Dreams in Darkness
by Mistress Megatron
Summary: ROTF-Her dreams had become strange lately. Her subconscious was trying to tell her something important, something beyond all comprehension. But she really didn't like the police car that was stalking her with the painted on saying "to punish and enslave."
1. Dream

Originally I was going to call this story Raptus, but I like the title I have now better. But yeah, this is just meant to be a prologue, but as the story goes on it will hopefully clear up some confusion. I hope you enjoy it.

_Disclaimer_: Transformers and all related characters belong to Hasbro, except the OC in this belongs to me...XD

* * *

**1. Dream**

The pitter patter of feet stepping lightly across the hallway floor couldn't be ignored. The laptop was in the office and she had an important message to send before it was too late. Her life depended on it. She didn't know what time it was. She had risen from her bed, her eyes glassy as she roamed the house as if in a trance to get to her office. She was clumsy as she stumbled inside and sat down at her desk, which held her laptop. She opened it and turned it on like she had done millions of times before.

But this time her life depended on it.

She had to get a message out before they came and killed her. She didn't fully understand who they were, but her fingers flew over her keyboard as she got on the internet and downloaded a few files that she needed. She had never heard of them, but she was instructed to use them, by whom though, she didn't rightly know.

They were hacking files. Files she needed to use to send the message. Her glassy, lost eyes barely focused on the computer screen as she skimmed through the setup and the instructions. This wouldn't take long…not too long…

_Code 017062…acquiring access…please wait…loading…acquiring necessary data and program files…finished…PASSWORD:_

_******_

_Access denied…_

_***********_

_Access denied…_

_*****_

_Access granted…_

_To: BC911_

_Megatron's body has been located and the coordinates of his whereabouts are obtainable through Soundwave. The Autobot forces have mobilized, as if sensing an oncoming attack by the Decepticons. Our plans have not been discovered by the enemy. Starscream has assumed command of the Decepticons for the time being. Decepticons have been spread out throughout every country and continent on planet Earth. Orders are requested. The Autobots may think they have the upper hand now, but they do not. One of the great pyramids on Earth, located in the country Egypt has a super weapon hidden inside, one that is able to destroy the sun. Sam Witwicky is the key to victory. He has valuable information contained in the remaining fragment of the Allspark. The Fallen shall rise again._

_-Abbie _

She sent the message and immediately exited out of the program before she turned off her computer. She promptly went back to bed, where she settled in and closed her glassy eyes. She laid like that for a few long minutes until her eyes suddenly shot open, the glassiness completely gone. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced at the clock by her bed. It was only 4:30 in the morning. Sighing, she rolled back over to get some more sleep with one thought on her mind.

_What a strange dream…_

_

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Yeah, this chapter was weird. But anyways, I'll clear it up. Thanks for reading, please review!


	2. Just Call Me Cade

Well, here's the next chapter of this ficcy. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter! I appreciate it!

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**2. Just Call Me Cade**

She couldn't have been any happier when her neighbor came to pick her up at 9:30am, right on the dot. She was being taken up to Lysk's, a farm where she had agreed to purchase an old used truck from Mr. Lysk. It was a twenty minute ride to the farm since they had to take mostly back roads to get there. Her neighbor dropped her off and said, "Hey Kristen, call if you need anything."

"Thanks for the ride Mrs. Denise, and if anything should happen you know I'd call you first."

"Are you sure your parents are going to like that truck? I mean…don't you think you should spend your money on a nice new vehicle?"

"I already have a car, I just want a project truck you know, my boyfriend's birthday is this weekend…he's been looking for this type of truck for a long time. Sure it needs a little TLC, but he's a grease monkey, he can do what needs to be done to fix it."

"Why don't you just submit it to that show called Overhaulin'?"

"He wants to do it himself."

"What happens if he gets deployed?"

"Then I'll just hold onto it for him."

She sighed, "Well, at least it runs. And hopefully you'll get your money's worth out of it…but chores await me back at home."

"I can stop by later and help you out if you want."

"That would be appreciated. I'll keep an eye out for you so I know when you get home."

"Alright, see you later."

"Be careful Kristen."

"I will."

"Okay then, good luck with the truck."

She smiled, "Thanks." And she shut the door and watched as her neighbor drove away. Once she was gone, Kristen turned towards the house and walked up to the front door where she knocked.

Mr. Lysk answered the door and smiled, "Hey Kristen, how are you doing?"

"Very good Mr. Lysk…I have the money for the truck."

"Do you? Well then let's see."

Kristen produced an envelope from her back pocket and handed it to him. Mr. Lysk proceeded to open it and he took out a wad of cash which he counted. He grinned, "Well, all $800 is here. I'll go and grab the keys. Do you have the title to the truck and everything?"

"Yup, and it's all insured."

"Good, good," he remarked as he stepped back inside briefly and reappeared with the keys in hand, "Here you go Kristen."

"Thank you very much sir," she stated as she started to walk away. She stopped, remembering something and turned back to him, "I know the gas gauge is broken, does the truck have enough gas in it for me to make it home?"

"How far do you got to go?"

"Just back to Dayansville."

"Well, this truck is pretty good on gas mileage. You'll be alright; I just filled her up yesterday."

"Okay then, thanks again Mr. Lysk."

"No problem Kristen," he remarked as he stepped back inside, closing the door behind him.

Kristen grinned as she walked to the front of the property where her truck was waiting. The truck itself was over thirty years old, it was a black, rusty 1979 GMC Sierra, but Mr. Lysk had put on his own modifications, which included a lift kit and, made the vehicle almost impossible to get into without having to jump. Kristen went over to the driver's side where she tugged the door open and literally climbed inside. She was five-foot-seven, so she wasn't exactly short, but the truck was still high off the ground. Once inside, she closed the door and fastened her seat belt. She had test drove the truck once before and she knew it ran. However, she was also aware that the turning signals, taillights, brake lights, and blinkers didn't work. But since she was taking the back roads to get home, she figured she wouldn't have to worry about getting a fix-it ticket from the police.

Excited, Kristen inserted the key into the ignition and the truck roared to life when she started it. She chuckled at how loud it was, especially considering it had two mufflers. Luckily the vehicle was old enough so that she didn't have to worry about a noise citation. Kristen put the truck into drive and pulled forward…she forgot the speedometer didn't work either. Sighing, she figured she would have to maintain a safe speed as she pulled out onto the road and started home.

Her route home was rather scenic. She had to drive through a forest most of the way until she turned on to her road where the forest abruptly ended. However, as she drove through the forest, she got thinking about how nobody lived out here. If anything were to happen, it would be nearly impossible to walk anywhere to get home. She had been down this road several times and new that if anything happened, the nearest sign of civilization was five miles away. And she lived in bear country. She had seen a couple black bears in her lifetime, but she had also heard stories of hunters and campers who had been out in these very woods that were attacked by bears. Kristen sighed though, happy that she had a set of reliable wheels to get her home.

That was until the truck made a loud grinding noise and suddenly became harder to control. Kristen pulled over and growled, knowing what was wrong. She shut off the truck and slammed her fist on the dashboard. "Mr. Lysk you're a dirty liar!" she growled, "Like hell you filled this up yesterday!"

Angrily she pulled out her cellphone to call Mrs. Denise and tell her she had ran out of gas, but got a female robotic voice saying, "I'm sorry, service is not available in the area from which you are trying to call. Please move to another location and try again later. Goodbye!"

"Ah, stupid AT&T!" she yelled, shoving her phone back into her pocket, "You never have service anywhere…"

Hesitantly, she got out of the truck and walked around, looking for a signal on her cellphone, but gave up after about half an hour. She returned to the truck where she got in and turned on her blinkers, they at least worked in the front. Kristen wasn't about to start walking five miles to any house either, especially since she didn't know if a bear or some other wild animal would come out of the woods and get her or not. She simply sat there and waited for someone to come by so that she could wave them down. Her neighbor was also keeping an eye out for her, so if she didn't pull in to her driveway, Mrs. Denise would know. She sighed heavily as she glanced at the time on her cellphone.

10:46am.

* * *

Barricade wasn't sure what to make of the message when he received it. Most of the information was stuff he already knew…he just couldn't figure out who sent it. The message was signed from some Abbie…which was a human name. He didn't understand why she was acting like a Decepticon…he didn't understand why she was waiting for orders…and he didn't understand why she had sent the message to him of all Decepticons.

He sighed heavily, angrily, he knew he had to figure out who this Abbie person was before she caused any trouble or accidentally gave away information to the wrong person. The message he had received though had taken him forever to decode, it was encrypted, but it had a Decepticon signature, making the decoding process slightly easier. It was clear that she knew what she was doing…at least for the most part.

Abbie had given him one important clue though, which was her IP address. All he had to do was trace the message back to that address and he could hack into the computer, figure out who it belonged to, and then go after that human and exterminate them before they caused a problem that couldn't easily be fixed. He began the trace and immediately came back with a result.

_209.11.158_

Effortlessly he hacked into the computer with that IP address and immediately looked for the name of the owner. He was a little surprised when he found the name to be Kristen Hise. He found out they lived in the small town of Dayansville, Vermont and her home address. Luckily for him he had been stationed in New York City. He didn't need permission to leave his post and he figured he would only be gone for a little while…

After all, a little excitement sure would be nice.

* * *

When the sun began to go down and the shadows grew longer and creepier over the road, Kristen felt panic slowly begin to prick through her veins. She looked at the time, it was almost eight o'clock. She had figured awhile ago that her neighbor had gotten distracted once she got home and completely forgot about her. Mrs. Denise was elderly, so that wouldn't surprise her. Kristen was just disappointed that nobody had drove by…at all. She knew not a lot of people travelled this road, but she didn't think there were days where this road saw no traffic at all. There was no way she could get a hold of anybody…and her parents were away visiting friends until the next day.

She drummed her fingers nervously on the steering wheel, praying that she wouldn't have to stay the night in the forest. Her blinkers had been off for a few hours, she didn't want to risk running the battery down in the truck. Kristen attempted to start the truck, it sputtered as if pleading for more gas but it didn't start.

"Stupid bitch of a truck," she swore as she turned it off. She didn't have a flashlight, she didn't have a blanket. And she watched with nervousness in her eyes as the last few rays of the sun began to disappear in the forest treetops.

Not knowing what else to do, Kristen took out her cellphone and texted one of her friends, "Help! I'm stuck on the Second Road without any gas…" She went to send the text message, but since she didn't have any service, she got an error message.

"Perfect," she sighed as she rolled up the windows and locked the doors.

The last thing she wanted to be tonight was somebody's dinner.

* * *

Barricade pulled up at the Hise residence, but he could tell by the way the lights were off that nobody was home. The garage was closed up and the house looked locked up. To be sure, he scanned for any energy signatures, but didn't find any. Figuring he would try again in the morning, he pulled away from the home and went up the road. He turned onto another one looking for a place to bunker down for the night. He had travelled a long way and was in need of a recharge.

* * *

Headlights. Kristen could've nearly screamed for joy. She immediately turned on her own headlights and blinkers and jumped out of the truck. She stood in front of it and waved her arms frantically, knowing that she had to capture the other driver's attention.

Barricade frowned when he saw the distressed woman in front of him. He had only been travelling for about ten minutes and he already had stumbled on something he didn't want to be involved in. He was tempted to drive on by, but he was curious to know what had happened. And it didn't help that he had chosen a disguise as a police car. This human would expect him to pull over and help. Groaning, he turned on his lights and pulled over on the opposite side of the road from the girl.

Kristen was a little surprised when she saw the red and blue lights begin to flash, but at this point she didn't care who the help was coming from. At least since this was a police officer she knew that she would be getting help and hopefully not a ticket. She waited until he rolled his window down and he asked, "Is there a problem?"

Kristen noticed that he didn't sound very happy and she warily replied, "Yes, I ran out of gas and I don't get service out here on my phone. I've been here since 10:30 this morning."

Barricade sighed, "Alright, I'll give you a ride back into town, will you be able to come out here tomorrow and get your vehicle?"

"Yes sir, I'll arrange something."

"Okay, get in the back, I'll take you home."

"Thank you," she said as she grabbed her keys out of the truck and carefully got into the backseat of the police car.

He pulled back onto the road and glanced at her in the rearview mirror, "What's your name?"

"Kristen Hise…I live in the other direction."

Barricade felt his holoform grin as he debated what to do with her. He turned the vehicle around and headed back the way he had come. "Where do you live?" he asked, even though he already knew.

"Just keep driving straight until we get to the end of this road, then take a right. I'll let you know when we get close to my house."

"Alright," he responded, glancing at her out of his rearview mirror, still deciding whether or not he should kill her.

Kristen looked at the back of the officer's head. She couldn't see too much since it was dark, but when he had first pulled over, she noticed that he was very good looking. He had short black hair, a pointed nose, and she could tell from his shoulders that he was muscular and well built. He looked to be about six-foot-two…age wise he looked about twenty-seven.

His car was really nice too. She had never been inside of a police car, but the seats were comfortable and nice. There was a thick plastic between the backseat and the front seats. There weren't any door handles though…so the officer was going to have to let her out.

Barricade decided that he would let her live for now at least…he still wanted some questions answered. He wanted to know how she knew how to contact him, how she knew that information about Sam Witwicky and the rest of the transformers, especially considering that she lived in Vermont and the attacks had taken place in Mission City. He wanted to know where she had gotten the name Abbie from, and finally, he wanted to know how much she knew about the Decepticons current campaign. He would monitor her closely for a little while until he had these questions answered. Then he would decide what to do from there, once he had the answers.

He would be fair, but only for now.

Kristen saw her house coming up and stated, "That's my house up there."

"Okay," he replied and began to slow down.

He pulled into her driveway when he got there and Kristen watched as the officer got out and opened her door. She unbuckled her seatbelt and glanced up at him, but she felt a chill run down her spine. She didn't realize how dark and sinister looking he really was until she got close to him. Kristen was almost afraid to walk by him, but she managed to find the courage to get out.

"Thank you for the ride um…" she trailed off, not knowing his name.

"Cade," he replied, "Just call me Cade."

"Thank you then Cade," she remarked. And she turned and headed inside the house. As she walked inside, she heard him get back inside his vehicle and drive away. She let go a suppressed shiver once she heard him start down the road and she quickly went inside her house where she turned on the lights and locked the door.

She waited a minute or two as she calmed down…she hoped she would never run into that officer again. Her stomach growled suddenly and she smiled, realizing that after going all day without eating that she was really hungry. She had to go to the bathroom too…and she wanted to give Mrs. Denise a call. So she proceeded to go to the bathroom and get a quick bite to eat, then she sat down in a chair in the living room and pulled her cellphone out of her pocket so that she could call her neighbor.

"Hello?" Mrs. Denise answered.

"Hi Mrs. Denise, it's Kristen."

"Kristen!" she exclaimed, "I forgot all about you! I'm so sorry! I had company waiting for me once I got home and they stayed all afternoon."

"It's alright, I made it home."

"What time did you get home?"

"…Just now," she was a little reluctant to say.

"Oh no! What happened?"

"I ran out of gas on the Second Road. A police officer happened to come by and he gave me a ride home. So I have to go back out tomorrow and put gas in the truck so that I can get it here."

"You were stuck out there all day?"

"Um…yeah. It's okay though, don't feel bad. I could've walked home but I was too afraid too."

"Well, let me make it up to you, I'll take you out there tomorrow evening to get the truck. I'm busy tomorrow morning, but if I forget, don't be afraid to call and remind me. I'll even pay for gas too."

"I just need the ride; you don't have to pay for gas."

"I'm paying Kristen, don't say otherwise."

"If you say so."

"Well, I'll let you go; I've got some cleaning up to do. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, thanks Mrs. Denise."

"It's not a problem, goodbye."

"Bye," Kristen stated as she hung up. She then sighed and decided to call it a night. Getting up, she couldn't help but glance out the window. It almost felt as if she were being watched. She shrugged it off though as she turned off the lights and went upstairs to her room.

There was a small bathroom, a bedroom, and another small room up there that Kristen made into her 'office.' It used to be her sister's bedroom, but her sister had long since moved out, so she took it for herself. Her parents had the downstairs, which was nicer.

Kristen went into her room where she turned on the light and shut the door behind herself. She changed into her pajamas and then turned off the light. As she crawled into bed, she glanced over at the small window that was in her room and noticed the moon wasn't out. She sighed and attempted to dismiss the feeling that she was being watched. She couldn't and she pulled the covers over her head and fell asleep.

* * *

Barricade grumbled when he was awakened from his recharge at two-thirty that morning. He had parked himself in the entrance of a field, within sight of Kristen's home. He could monitor everything that she was doing from that position. And any car that drove by would just think that he was checking their speed.

But it was another encrypted message that he received that had awakened him. He wasn't sure who it was from, so immediately he decoded it and read:

_To: BC911_

_Thank you for the ride today. It was nice to see you again. I am still awaiting my orders…_

_-Abbie_

_

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And so ends this chapter. I hope to get the next one out soon...until then, please review!_


	3. Let's Talk

Yeah...once again it's been awhile since I last updated. I apologize for my inconsistency with updating. I am working on way too many stories...but alas, enjoy this chappie!

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**3. Let's Talk**

Kristen sighed the next morning when she woke up and knew that she had to go out, get gas, then go to the truck and put gas in it before she could drive it home. She was tempted to call Mr. Lysk and tell him what had happened, and then force him to pay the gas bill, but he was an old man and probably forgot that he hadn't filled the truck up, even though he had said he had. She shook her head, deciding not to dwell on it. What was done was done; she just had an extra chore to do now.

Rolling out of bed, Kristen got up and went to the bathroom where she took care of her hygiene and then went downstairs and ate a small breakfast. By the time she finished, it was quarter to ten in the morning. She exhaled loudly before she went over to the phone and called her neighbor, Mrs. Denise.

* * *

Barricade had woken from his recharge long before Kristen had woken up. While he knew she was still sleeping, he installed a wire tap system onto her house, which allowed him to listen in on her phone calls. Only a few hours after he had installed it, he noticed Kristen was outputting a call. Casually, he decided to listen in.

* * *

"Hello!" Mrs. Denise exclaimed when she answered the phone.

Kristen smiled at the bubbly mood her neighbor was in. She responded, "Hi Mrs. Denise, it's me."

"Oh hello Kristen, how are you this morning?"

"I am good. How about you?"

"Just fine. Frank went out this morning and bought you some gas and brought it back here. Are you ready to go put it in your truck?"

"Oh, you got the gas already? How much do I owe you?"

"Kristen, Kristen, Kristen, do not worry about it. We only got five gallons, but it'll be enough to get you home where you can fill up the rest of your tank."

"…I guess if you say so."

"Good, now that that's settled, I will be over in a few minutes to pick you up. I hope you're ready."

"Yup, I will see you then."

"Okie dokie then, talk to you soon. Bye dear."

"Bye Mrs. Denise." And she hung up. Kristen got up from where she was sitting and headed over to the door where she had flung off her shoes the previous night. She slipped them onto her feet and tied them before she grabbed the keys to the truck. From where she was standing she heard her neighbor drive into the driveway, and Kristen left the house after grabbing her purse and got in the front seat next to her neighbor.

"Okay, so your truck is on the Second Road?"

"Yes. Do you have the gas?"

"Yup," her neighbor replied as she backed out of the driveway and headed towards the Second Road.

It was about a ten minute ride, but once they got to where Kristen's truck was Mrs. Denise pulled over and popped the trunk. Kristen undid her seatbelt as she stated, "I'll grab the gas and fill it up, and then you can head home."

"You sure? What if something else happens?"

"I doubt anything else will happen. The truck was running fine until it ran out of gas," Kristen remarked as she got out of the car and went over to the trunk. She tugged the five gallon gas container out of her neighbor's car and closed the trunk. After straining her muscles a bit, Kristen managed to get the gas tank over to the truck, where she lifted it and began putting the gas into the gas tank. When she was finished, Mrs. Denise popped the trunk again and Kristen put the gas can back inside before reclosing the trunk.

"You all set?" Mrs. Denise asked.

Kristen nodded, "Yup! Thank you very much for bringing me back out here."

"It was no problem. I'll see you later Kristen!" and her neighbor drove off.

Kristen watched as she left before she turned to her truck and sighed. "You better work," she threatened it. She opened the door and hopped behind the wheel before she shut the door to the truck. She inserted the key into the ignition and turned it. Kristen grinned as the truck roared to life, happy for the gas she had given it. Out of habit, she looked down at the gas gauge only to frown. "Oh sure you pile of crap…you work now…" she groaned.

* * *

Barricade had to admit he was impressed by the loudness of the truck. When he had heard that Kristen was coming out to it on the phone, he went ahead and positioned himself out of sight of the truck, but he could see it crystal clear from his hiding place. He had noticed that when she started the truck, the taillights had not come on. He figured he could pull her over and somehow get some questions answered from her. After all, he had to figure out who she was quickly and just what she was up to.

* * *

Kristen could hardly believe her luck when she went to pull forward, but was unable to when a cop with flashing lights came out of nowhere and pulled up behind her. She sighed heavily and reached into her purse where she pulled out her wallet, which held her license. She then reached into the glove box and got out the registration for the truck. She watched in the rearview mirror as the officer approached her vehicle…and once again she couldn't believe her luck.

"Cade?" she exclaimed as she rolled down her window.

He smirked, "I guess you remember me from last night. License and registration?"

She handed him the papers and her license, "What's the problem?"

"Your taillights are out."

"I know…I just bought the truck yesterday…and as you know, have been unable to get it anywhere to get it fixed or anything."

Barricade looked the truck up and down and then asked, "What made you buy this rust bucket anyway?"

She blushed, offended, but replied, "It's a present for my fiancé. His birthday is this upcoming Saturday…he's gone right now for Army training, but he's scheduled to get back Thursday. He's a mechanic and has been looking around for a project truck. So I saved up my money and bought him one."

"Fiancé?" he questioned unfamiliar with the term.

Kristen scowled, "Yes…okay I know I look young, but I am 22 years old, he's 24, and he has two years left in the Army. I am almost done with my master's degree; I only have a year left. And we'll be okay to get married. He'll be getting his benefits, I'll be getting my job…we'll be okay."

Barricade knew he would have to look up the human terms fiancé and marriage…but for now he had a job to get done. He glanced at her license, and said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He returned to his vehicle form. He had watched cops endlessly to make sure he got their part down in case he ever had to pull over a human, so he knew he had to at least make it look like he was running a background check on her license. Instead, he made a copy of it, along with her registration papers. It took a few minutes, and when he was done, he returned to Kristen.

"I presume I am clean," she stated.

"For now," he remarked, "I'll let you go with a warning this time, just make sure you get the truck fixed before you drive it around anymore." And he handed her license and registration papers back to her.

"Okay…thanks. I can't help but think that you were out here waiting for me though."

He grinned, feeling un-Decepticon as he did so, "A police officer needs to keep his job." And he turned and began walking away with a scowl on his face, sickened by the fact he had to act friendly with her in order to get information.

Kristen simply shook her head as she put her license and registration away. She then pulled forward, happy to be leaving that cop behind for the second time. As she had the previous night, she couldn't help but get a feeling that Cade had a sinister air about him. No, she couldn't put her finger on what it was about him that made her skin prickle with fear, but she still didn't ever want to come across him again. And seeing him twice within the last twenty-four hours was almost too much.

Kristen glanced out the window as she drove past her home, heading straight for the gas station. She wasn't going to risk just going on five gallons of gas in her tank for long. She knew the truck that she had bought consumed a lot of gas, she recalled Mr. Lysk mentioning it barely got 21 miles to the gallon, so five gallons wouldn't last her long, or her boyfriend very long either. Her boyfriend tended to drive a lot, so he would need the gas more than she would.

Kristen already owned her own vehicle, just a small four-door 2001 Malibu, but she loved the car. She only hoped that her fiancé liked the truck as much as she did. Sure it had already caused her a bit of grief, but that had been Mr. Lysk's fault and not the truck's.

As she pulled into the gas station, a couple people looked at her and then the truck. No, the truck wasn't in superb condition, in fact it was quite the opposite of that. She just smiled to herself as she began pumping more gas into the truck. As she waited for the gas tank to fill up, a sudden gleam of black and white caught her eye and she felt a lump of fear in her throat suddenly.

Cade had pulled beside the gas pump directly behind her. He got out of the car and smiled innocently as he began filling his tank as well. Kristen shot him a scrutinizing look before she asked, "Are you following me on purpose?"

"No," he answered, and though it sounded sincere it was a lie, "You just weren't the only one low on gas." That was a lie too. Barricade didn't need gas, he was a transformer, he ran on the fuels that were given to him at his creation. Instead, he was merely hungry and a few gallons of unleaded sounded quite delicious. Besides, all of Kristen's talk of getting gas had made him hungry. And he didn't have to pay…oh no the bank accounts he had hacked into were working quite sufficiently.

Kristen, still nonetheless, looked at him suspiciously, "You must work a lot…" she mused.

"It's a fulltime job. I was asked to work overtime last night," he replied casually and then grinned, "Am I making you paranoid?"

She blushed and then stammered, "Just…Just a little. You must be new to town."

"Yes. I was stationed in New York City for a little while, but transferred up here. My time here though is only temporary. I was only looking for a brief reprieve from the city."

"Ah, I don't blame you. The city life is not for me. Did you leave behind any girlfriends?"

"No. And why did you make that plural? I only date one at a time, and that's when I feel like dating," he almost wanted to laugh. He, Barricade, never dated. He much more preferred the phrase 'had affairs with.' No femme was worth a lifetime of trouble.

Kristen simply replied, "Oh…well maybe you'll find someone when you go back to the city." She finished filling her truck, put the pump away and closed the gas cap cover, and then got in the truck and drove away, back to her home, more than relieved to be done talking to the officer, once again. However, as she had been filling her tank, she had gotten a good look at his name tag, which had his last name on it. It was Barri, a last name she had never seen before. It almost made her laugh; an officer that seemed so dark and sinister had the last name of Barri.

She sighed in an effort not to laugh. Cade Barri was quite the name. She definitely had never heard of it before, it was unusual, like the president's name but everyone (as far as she knew) had gotten used to that. At least she had…she just hoped that she didn't have to get used to Cade's.

When Kristen got home, she parked the truck in the driveway and had just walked inside the house when the phone rang. The woman hurried over to the phone where she answered it with a calm, "Hello?"

"Hey honey, its mom."

"Oh hey mom, how are you and dad? Are you on your way home?"

"Your father and I are fine, just a little tired. I really hate to tell you this, but the guy who was supposed to give the conference this morning is ill and the conference has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening. And we can't fly out until Thursday evening. Do you think you'll be okay by yourself until then?"

"Yeah mom…geez I'm 22 years old, I can take care of myself."

"I know, I know. Well, thanks dear."

"No problem mom. I'll see you in a few days."

"You too honey. Bye."

"Bye mom," and she hung up.

* * *

Barricade mused to himself after he had heard that phone call. Today was Monday, her parents wouldn't be back until Thursday, and neither would her fiancé. That gave him until Thursday to figure out what sort of prank Kristen was pulling with him and why.

Barricade had parked himself in the same spot he had been in last night. Kristen wouldn't notice him unless she looked for him. He sighed heavily though, puzzled for the first time in a long time. He really wasn't getting any answers. Obviously she thought he was just a normal human police officer because she didn't recognize his vehicle form. He had a gut feeling that she didn't know anything about the Decepticons, let alone transformers in general. But that didn't explain how she had managed to send a message to him, knowing all about the transformers and the Decepticons. And why in the pit had she addressed herself as Abbie when her name was Kristen Hise?

Barricade revved his engine angrily. He knew he had to review the information he had collected thus far before he could get any answers. Kristen was the only one who lived in the house right now. The IP address had come from a computer inside that household, so since Kristen was the only one in the house, she had to be sending him the messages. Another thing that was puzzling was the fact that both messages had come at night when Kristen was sleeping. Barricade wasn't stupid and he knew humans couldn't send messages from their computers while they were sleeping.

Unless…

Unless she was sleepwalking. Barricade frowned at his conclusion, but it made sense. He had heard that the human subconscious was a world of its own. It contained essentially another life that humans aren't aware they live. It holds hidden desires, repressed memories, forgotten dreams, and sometimes even hidden powers. But knowing that made everything more confusing. He knew he had to get more questions answered before he could conclude anything else.

And he had to do it all by Thursday.

* * *

Kristen looked up from the book she was reading only to notice the sun was beginning to set. She frowned when her stomach suddenly growled, but she got up and started to fix herself a small dinner. As she cooked, she felt like she had to stay away from the windows. For some reason, she had an eerie feeling that someone was watching her from outside the house. It almost felt like cold, invisible eyes were staring into her back, examining her, scrutinizing her, studying her carefully as they tried to get the answers to some unknown, ambiguous question.

She shivered and quickly finished cooking the meal and ate it too fast, feeling uncomfortable being in the kitchen. When she finished, she put the dishes in the sink, deciding that she could do them in the morning. There really was no need to do them now, especially when she felt so freaked out.

Kristen grabbed her book and quickly went upstairs to her bedroom, deciding that reading under the covers sounded quite ideal at the moment.

* * *

Shortly after 10pm, Barricade noticed that Kristen's energy levels had relaxed and he figured she had fallen asleep. He kept a close watch on the house, making sure that no one was sneaking in or out. It was extremely boring work, but it had to be done if he wanted answers.

Close to 1am, he noticed that Kristen was moving inside of the house, but she was still in her state of relaxation, so he knew that she was sleepwalking. He waited patiently; if a message came to him it would most certainly be from her. And he didn't have to wait long.

_To BC911:_

_I understand now that there are certain circumstances that have to be explained. Take a look at my license._

_-Abbie_

Barricade pulled out the copy he had made of Kristen's license and smiled when he noticed the clue. Her name was A. Kristen Hise. Obviously she didn't go by her first name, but by her middle name. Immediately he assumed that Kristen was hiding something, especially if she wasn't going by her first name, but rather, her middle. He would have to talk to her again, but for now, he wanted more answers.

_To Abbie:_

_Let's talk._

_-BC911_

_

* * *

_

'Nough said. Please review!


	4. Good Cop Bad Cop

**4. Good Cop Bad Cop**

_To BC911:_

_Thank you for finally responding. But I don't think you remember me. I am Abbie. My existence has been kept top secret from the rest of the Decepticons; I am coming to you because I want to help our cause directly, instead of behind the scenes. _

_To Abbie:_

_I don't know who you are or if you are an enemy or not. If you stop playing games and answer my questions, I'll consider sparing you._

_To BC911:_

_I am not playing games, but what are your questions?_

_To Abbie:_

_Who, exactly, are you?_

_To BC911:_

_Even though I am in a human form, I assure you that truly I am not. My systems have adapted to this condition I am in, but this condition is not permanent. My subconscious is currently locked inside what appears to be a human body, but is not. I am a pretender._

Barricade paused after he read Abbie's last message. He could run a scan on Kristen…Abbie, whatever her name was to find out whether or not she was really a pretender. He might even dig through the Decepticon archives to see if he could find any additional information on her. He would see where that got him and then he would move from there. After all, as far as he knew, he was merely dealing with a human that had an insane sleepwalking problem.

But even if she were sleepwalking, she wouldn't have any knowledge of the Decepticons or the transformers. Barricade had done some research on dreams and found out several interesting things. First, all the people that appeared in dreams were faces of people that they had already seen before. Second, humans were incapable of dreaming of something that they had never seen before or heard of before. And lastly, humans had several dreams every night that only lasted a few seconds, which explained why they usually couldn't remember them.

Kristen…Abbie broke the rules and the norms. This was happening almost every night since he had arrived. And her dreams lasted longer than just a few seconds, heck; here he was having a conversation with her right now. But the worst part was she _knew_ about the transformers, about the Decepticons, about how the fallen would rise again…

Barricade had heard of pretenders before and he knew they existed. He had heard rumors that there was one working for the Decepticons currently, but he had been unable to confirm that and he really hadn't ever cared to. The Decepticon let out a frustrated sigh as he let his chassis sink down onto his tires. Kristen-Abbie was hiding something that much he knew. He needed to figure out who she was and just where she came from and if she had any benefit to the Decepticon cause.

_To Abbie:_

_Where did you come from?_

_To BC911:_

_I do not have much time left to talk since I am weak right now. You will find the truth behind my existence, but I do not have time to explain. I must go now._

And that was it. Barricade growled a bit, aggravated at how Kristen-Abbie was just leading him in circles it seemed. His sensors detected movement within the house and he saw that the girl was going back to bed, her sleepwalking over for tonight.

He knew that he couldn't let her keep dictating him like this. He needed answers and as lost as he felt, he wasn't ready to get help from Decepticon higher ups. He would solve this by himself; after all, if he got too frustrated he could just kill her and be done with it. But for now, he needed a plan. It was getting time for the good cop, bad cop routine anyways.

* * *

Kristen nearly rolled onto the floor when she was suddenly awakened by a loud banging at her front door. She stumbled out of her bed and into the bathroom where she made herself look as presentable as possible. When she was done, she went downstairs and reluctantly opened the door, only to feel a heavy knot suddenly form in her stomach. "Cade?" she questioned, surprised.

He grinned, "Hello Kristen. Did I wake you?"

She blushed, remembering that she was only in her pajamas which consisted of a pair of boxers and a baggy t-shirt. "It's okay…" she answered quietly, "Um, is something wrong because, well…you're here…again."

"I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

"Uh…why?"

"Your name, A. Kristen Hise, has come up in a terrorist group database."

"Are you kidding me?" she shrieked, "What one, Al-Qaida? The Taliban?"

"No…" he answered slowly, "The…D-cons."

"I've…never heard of it…"

"It's a small and developing terrorist group."

"Well I can honestly tell you that I am not a part of it."

"Then would you be willing to answer some questions?" Barricade wondered, beginning to get impatient.

"Fine, just to prove to you that I'm innocent and that this whole thing is bogus."

"_That's what I'm hoping too,"_ Barricade thought as he took out a tape recorder, "Kristen is not your real first name. What is your first name?"

She sighed, "Its Abigail."

"Abbie for short?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any mental illness?"

"Not as far as I know."

Barricade paused for a moment, "Any sleep disorders?"

"…I've been told that I sleepwalk."

"Do you remember any of your dreams after you have sleepwalked?"

"No, not usually. If I do, it's a really fuzzy memory. Like I can recall emailing someone, but that's just about it."

"Does BC911 stand out to you at all?"

"No."

"Are you a U.S. citizen?"

"Yes. But…I'm adopted."

Barricade felt an alarm go off inside of him. "Ah…where were you born?"

"I…don't know. You see, my parents found me wandering the streets with no idea who I was; I just knew that my name was Abigail. The doctors said I had a severe case of amnesia, but I didn't have any injuries or anything that would have caused the amnesia. They ran finger prints on me and DNA samples, but I didn't come up on any missing persons reports. I didn't have any records on me for that matter. It was if I had just appeared on the face of the Earth from thin air. But my parents adopted me and I've been here ever since."

"How long ago was this?"

"A few years ago."

"How old are you again?"

"I'm 22, as far as I can tell."

"And you're in college?"

Kristen sighed, slightly agitated, "I had to take placement testing to determine what grade I would be put in when I was found and adopted by my parents. They decided to make me a senior in high school so that I could get a diploma and go to college, which I did…even though I have above average intelligence compared to the rest of my classmates."

"And your fiancé?"

"What about him?"

"What is his name and describe him for me."

"Ah, well his name is Lee McCoy, he's in the Army Reserves and he's currently gone for two weeks of combative training, but he'll be coming back this week."

"And what's his job in the Army?"

"He's an engineer, but he mostly drives heavy equipment."

"Has he ever been overseas?"

"No."

Barricade frowned, Kristen had given him all the information she knew consciously. His scans didn't indicate she was a pretender, which left him completely baffled. He figured he didn't have any other choice left but to question her in person while she was sleepwalking, but that in its self would be easier said than done.

"Well, thank you for your time Kristen, sorry to wake you."

"Hey wait, hold on a minute. Have I been cleared?"

"As a police officer, I'm not allowed to make an opinion. I will let you know within the coming days."

"…Alright, thanks I guess."

Barricade nodded and turned before he left the home inside his vehicle form. When he was far enough away, he deactivated his holoform and revved his engine in fury. His servos were aching from acting so friendly towards her. He couldn't wait until the moment when he could use a little police brutality.

* * *

As soon as Cade had left her house, Kristen ran upstairs and logged onto her computer. She immediately accessed Google and typed 'D-Con Terrorist Group' into the search engine. A sense of relief went over her when she didn't find anything, but that relief was quickly replaced by confusion and unease. Kristen doubted that a police officer would have knowledge about a terrorist group that was either highly classified or didn't exist…and if she were suspected as being a member of such a terrorist group, FBI Agents would be questioning her, not police officers that gave traffic tickets.

But, Cade had said that he had been transferred up here from the New York City area and that his stay in this area was only temporary. Maybe he was an FBI agent in disguise? And that feeling that she was being watched…was Cade watching her? Kristen shivered as she got up from her computer and went to her bedroom where she selected an outfit to wear. She noticed her cellphone had finished charging. She sighed heavily and picked it up and dialed a number.

"Hey Lee, it's me…"

"Hey babe, what's up?"

"Um…I think I may have a problem."

"Whose ass am I kicking?"

She smiled, "Well, it's a long story, but a police officer came by the house this morning to ask some questions. Supposedly my name popped up as part of a terrorist group, but I've never heard of the group."

"What's the group?"

"…The D-Cons."

"…I've never heard of them and as part of the Army, we're educated about terrorist groups. Are you sure this guy is really a cop?"

"Well, he drives a pretty fancy police car."

"Have you seen his badge?"

"No…"

"If he comes around again, let me know. And if he does, make sure you ask for his badge for proof that he is a police officer. This guy sounds really shady and if he intends on doing you any harm, I'm going to beat the ever living daylights out of him. I'll be home Friday though, so just sit tight until then, and be careful."

"Okay, thanks babe."

"Anything for you sweetheart, I'll talk to you later."

"You too, bye."

And they hung up. Feeling mildly better, Kristen grabbed her clothes and went to the bathroom where she proceeded to shower and get dressed. Once she had finished with her personal hygiene, she exited the bathroom. She had a bit of thinking to do. If Lee was coming home on Friday, but his birthday wasn't until Saturday, she had to hide the truck so that he wouldn't see it before his birthday. Kristen didn't have a doubt in her mind that he would see her once he got home…she hoped her neighbor wouldn't mind.

* * *

The Decepticon archives had to say _something_.

Barricade growled as he sorted through the online files, looking for anything that came up under pretenders. But after the minutes turned to hours, he knew he was having no such luck. It seemed every river had run dry when it came to his leads on who Abbie might be, on what Kristen was hiding.

He could go back tonight while she was sleepwalking and see if he could interrogate her then. But he always ran the risk of her waking up and then what would he do? She would most likely freak out and then call the _real_ police…not that they could do anything to stop him, but getting answers would be even harder if that happened.

Kidnapping her and torturing her until she spilled her guts sounded the most appealing at the moment. Maybe a blow to the head or breaking her arm would teach her not to withhold seemingly valuable information to him. And if she had wasted his time, he would kill her slowly…painfully. Barricade grinned, if he kidnapped her, he would have all the time in the world with her he wanted. If she was lying, he would show her just how fragile the human body is.

But he knew he had to wait. He would give her one more chance. He had until Thursday, before her parents got home, to figure out just what she was up to. If he couldn't, she was his.

Today was Tuesday.

* * *

"In the barn is fine then?" Kristen asked.

"Yes. We keep all our junk in the barn, and there is enough room for it," Mrs. Denise replied.

"Thank you so much! I promise it will only be there until Saturday. I'll bring it over Thursday."

"Alright and it's no problem. I will talk to you later Kristen."

"Okay, and thanks again. Bye now." And she hung up, feeling relieved that her neighbor was letting her store the truck for a couple days until she could give it to her fiancé.

But since her major chore of the day was already done, she decided to clean the house up a bit. The downstairs was pretty clean, but the upstairs was starting to get a bit of clutter. She figured she would start in the office where most of the clutter was accumulating.

When she went in there, she noticed that her desk looked the worst out of all the things in the room. She sighed and sat down in the chair, in front of her computer. She watched as the lights blinked on her laptop, indicating it was in standby. It had been days since she had last used thing…

Suddenly the computer went out of its standby and the screen turned on. Kristen sat up a little when she noticed a message on the screen.

_To Abbie:_

_The Decepticon Archives say nothing about you. I scanned you, but the scans indicated that you were a normal human being, not a pretender. I don't know how you know about the Decepticons, or how you managed to contact me in the first place. However, you certainly have the potential to be something of importance to me and the Decepticon cause for that matter. Your answers to some of the questions I asked today were quite…interesting. However, I cannot wait forever. You are somehow well aware of our plans about the fallen rising again. You have until Thursday to come clean about who you are, or else._

_-BC911_

Kristen felt fear bubble up inside her so quickly; she became so dizzy she thought she was going to pass out. _"Decepticons…normal human being…pretender…importance to me…fallen rising again…Thursday, or else…"_ her thoughts blurred together, _"What the hell is going on?"_

BC911 stood out like a sore thumb to her. Cade had specifically asked her if BC911 had stood out to her at all, and here it was staring her in the face. Kristen wasn't sure whether or not to turn her computer off and throw it out the window or to whip her phone out of her pocket and call her fiancé and cry to him.

"_No,"_ she reasoned with herself, _"I'm a big girl; I can take care of this myself."_ She debated whether or not she should reply. Kristen was so confused, more confused than she had been when her adoptive parents first found her wandering the streets knowing nothing but her name.

Perhaps this Abigail person…was really someone else.

"_No!"_ Kristen thought, _"I am Abigail…but…who really is she?"_

Never before in her lifetime had she had a reason to doubt herself or her existence. Sure she had wondered where she came from, but she decided not to dwell on it and to be grateful for the life she had now. But somehow, the past was catching up with her, a past she didn't remember, a past that terrified her.

Did she throw her computer out, smash it to pieces to destroy the fear it was creating before her life was ruined forever? Did she push aside the fear and dare to reply and find out who she was? Did she want to know?

Her hands trembled as she stretched her fingers over the keyboard.

_To BC911:_

_I don't understand what's going on. Who are you, what do you want with me?_

_-Kristen_

_

* * *

_

When Barricade read the message that came through, he couldn't control the menacing cackle that escaped his throat. Maybe this was the incentive he needed. Maybe if he could jog Kristen's memory, somehow Abbie would be unleashed. He didn't really have anything to lose anyway.

_To Kristen:_

_Don't tell me you don't remember. You are Abigail, but it looks like you've lost sight of that and became this Kristen Hise person now, a person who has no use to the Decepticons. Where's Abbie when you need her Kristen? What did you do to her?_

_-BC911_

_

* * *

_

Kristen felt sick to her stomach. Something was awry, and she couldn't figure it out. Who was she before her adoptive parents found her? What kind of life was she living?

_To BC911:_

_I didn't do anything…I don't know what's going on, this would be so much easier if you just explained to me what was going on. Will you please tell me who you are? This isn't funny._

_To Kristen:_

_You already know who I am…well, Abigail does._

_To BC911:_

_But Abigail doesn't remember._

_To Kristen:_

_Then make her._

_To BC911:_

_What if I don't?_

_To Kristen:_

_You're dead._

Kristen immediately shut her laptop off and closed it. She listened to her heavy breaths as she tried to calm herself down. _"It didn't happen,"_ she tried to convince herself, _"None of this ever happened…"_

It was like a bad dream, and no matter what she did, she couldn't wake up.

* * *

Dun dun dun. Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing, keep up the good work! XD


	5. Barricade

**5. Barricade**

Kristen couldn't sleep that night. She tossed and turned while the words "You're dead" engraved themselves into her retinas. Finally she gave up and stared at the ceiling through the darkness of her room. No matter how much she tried to deny it, something was wrong. The past that she was completely unaware of was suddenly catching up to her. She swallowed hard. How had it been so easy for her to assimilate into the life she had now? She really had no idea who she was, where she had come from, what she may have possibly done. _Oh God, what if I am a terrorist?_

Out of panic she reached for her phone. She stared blankly at her fiancé's number, trying to decide whether or not to call him. If she were a terrorist something would have popped up somewhere, she would have been in jail long before now. But, why now? Why—when her life seemed so perfect—was this happening now? Her past never bothered her and she knew that if she had ever tried to figure it out it would only cause trouble.

Kristen closed her eyes, her mind somewhat at ease. Whatever was happening now could be dealt with tomorrow. Sighing, she put her phone away and rolled back over onto her side. She closed her eyes and resumed waiting for sleep to come.

* * *

_Beep…beep…beep…_

Kristen jumped awake the next morning to the sound of her alarm clock. Groaning, she reached over and shut it off. She went to go back to sleep when a blinking light suddenly caught her eye. Suspicious, Kristen sat up and got a better look at the floor beside her bed. _What the hell is my computer doing in here?_

Feeling slightly number, she rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes and picked her computer up. She ran her finger across the mouse-pad to get it out of sleep mode. When the screen illuminated, she felt bile rise to her throat and squeezed her eyes closed as she bit back the nauseas feeling tickling her stomach. Instead, she tried to remain calm as she scrolled back up to the top of the conversation Abbie had with BC911 while she slept.

Kristen checked to see what time the conversation started; 2:37a.m. That was after she had fallen asleep. Abbie had sent the first message. Kristen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before reading the first message.

_Abbie: I suggest you don't scare Kristen out of her wits anymore. It keeps her from sleeping and when she is awake, I can't talk to you._

_BC911: I want straight answers, thorough explanations, or both you and Kristen are dead. I have no time for your small talk. Who in the pit are you?_

_Abbie: I understand you're in a hurry. I receive Soundwave's messages as well. The Fallen is preparing for his return; the Autobots are clueless about his existence and by only indentifying him as "The Fallen," the Autobots think we mean fallen Decepticon soldiers. Megatron's resurrection is imminent too. Does this not prove I am a Decepticon?_

_BC911: And you're a pretender?_

_Abbie: My creation was for spy purposes, my duty, as well as my sister's was to blend into the human race, but something went wrong._

_BC911: You bring more questions than answers. Who created you?_

_Abbie: I have no knowledge of my creator. After our creation, both my sister and I had our malfunctions. We were both able to transform from human to robot mode, but her robot form was not fully developed. I became locked inside my human form and had a programming malfunction. My CPU believes I am human when I am not. My sister has the program download I need in order to be normal again._

_BC911: And your sister?_

_Abbie: She is blending in with the human race and helping out when she is needed. She goes by Alice._

With trembling hands, Kristen set the computer aside. Abbie's story was so convincing that she believed it. She eyed the switchblade that was on top of her nightstand. Breathing hard, she picked it up and stared at the blade momentarily before looking to her arm. As she thought about it, she realized she never had bodily injuries like scratches, cuts, and bruises. She never had to shave her legs or armpits because she didn't have hair there, but she thought she was just lucky.

"_I wonder if I bleed,"_ Kristen thought as she pressed the blade to her skin.

* * *

Barricade was flying through Decepticon files searching for any trace of a pretender named Alice. Everything Abbie had stated before had been true, even though he had no idea how she had picked up on Soundwave's heavily encrypted transmissions. But if she really was who she said she was, what was he supposed to do with her? If Megatron were still alive, he would take her to him and let him deal with her. But this was entirely his problem. If she turned out to be telling the truth, he would report her to Soundwave. From there, he could report it to Starscream.

"_Ugh, Decepticons are so disorganized without Megatron. Starscream isn't half the commander Megatron was,"_ Barricade thought.

A notification in his searching snapped the Decepticon from his thoughts. He felt a satisfying evilness begin to build inside him. Suddenly this wasn't a game anymore. The puzzle pieces were beginning to fit into place. Alice existed, she doing exactly what Abbie had told him. She was very alive and very well. And she was a com call away.

* * *

Kristen watched as fluid bubbled to the surface of her skin and trickled down her arm. She bit back the urge to scream. She knew what blood looked like; it was a deep red and thick. Whatever was leaking from her veins was not the same as human blood, not even close. It was a thin liquid, a _pink_ liquid.

"_Shit."_

The girl sprang from the bed and ran into the bathroom. She quickly worked to stop the bleeding and tried desperately to squish away any thoughts that came to mind. _"Don't think," _she told herself, _"Just act. You will call your fiancé and you will tell him everything that is going on. Then you will find Cade. He is somehow in on this."_

Kristen turned the sink off as she proceeded to step into the shower to clean the rest of her body. She sighed heavily. So this was her past. It had finally caught up to her as she assumed one day it would. But this was far from what she had ever expected it to be. She stood there, naked, unmoving, staring blankly into the shower wall in front of her. There was no way this was a dream. But maybe there was a way to disprove everything. Perhaps she had too much water in her blood. Maybe she did something while she was sleepwalking and got herself involved in something she did not want to be involved in.

Yes, that had to be it. If Cade ever came back she would tell him everything was just a big misunderstanding. He could leave her alone now because that was exactly what happened; her sleepwalking was a problem and she would go to a doctor to get it taken care of, as well as her blood. She needed a blood thickener was all. But the smile quickly faded from Kristen's face. She knew that a simple visit to the doctor would not fix anything. If anything, it would only make the situation worse.

After shutting off the shower, Kristen wrapped herself in a towel and went to her room. She proceeded to dry herself off before getting dressed. With her phone in hand, she went to her back deck to let the warm morning sun dry her hair. She sat down slowly in one of the chairs and gazed into her backyard. Everything was going to be so different now. She tried to enjoy the last of her normalcy while she could before she typed in her fiancé's cellphone number and hit the call button.

_**You don't really love him, Kristen.**_

Kristen snapped her head up and looked around; trying to figure out where the voice she had heard was coming from. When she saw no one was around, she felt goose bumps rise on her skin.

_**Kristen, **_the voice laughed, _**You silly girl. I am in your head. You're not going to see me.**_

"Hey baby, what's up?" her fiancé answered.

_**This is Abigail; I am who you really are.**_

"Babe?"

"Lee!" Kristen pleaded, "Lee, I have a huge problem and I know you can't help me, nobody can, but it's going to change everything forever."

_**Do not tell him anything.**_

"I'm listening."

_**Kristen.**_

Kristen hesitated. She didn't know how to talk back to Abigail, in fact, she doubted that she could, but could Abigail do anything if she told? What was the worst that could happen?

"Have you heard of an organization called the Decepticons?" she asked and then listened to silence. Neither Abigail nor Lee spoke. She was grateful for Abigail's silence, but not Lee's. Waiting for his response nearly suffocated her.

"What about them?" he finally replied.

"Does The Fallen ring a bell, Soundwave, or Megatron?"

"I'll call you back in a minute."

"No, damn it, Lee, no!"

And he yelled at her, "Is your life in danger at the present moment?"

"I don't know, they told me I was one of them."

"I will call you back, I promise." And he hung up.

Kristen removed the phone from her ear and stared at it as tears brimmed in her eyes. This was so unlike Lee, to leave her hanging like this.

* * *

"Alice…"

Barricade waited patiently. He had all the time in the world now, now that he knew Kristen-Abigail was a lot more than what she realized she was.

"Barricade?"

He grinned at the confusion in her voice, "I need to have a word with you."

"About what? If you're going to belittle me about my alternative form like Soundwave does then you just—

"Do you know anyone by the name of Abigail?"

"…How did you find out about her?"

"She contacted me."

"Where is she?"

"Don't worry; her location is secure, only you and I know about her for now."

"Barricade please, do not tell anyone else of her existence, she was sent into hiding for a reason. She was led to believe she was human for a reason."

"She knows who she is."

"You must convince her otherwise. She was the only one of us that turned out to be perfect."

"I order you to explain everything."

Alice sighed heavily, "It's a long story."

"Don't worry; I have lots and lots of time."

* * *

"Commander Lennox sir, I believe I have a situation."

Will Lennox turned from his conversation with Robert Epps and looked to his subordinate. "What is it McCoy?" he asked.

"My girl just called me," he explained, not sure how else to put it, "She's giving me information about the Decepticons I haven't heard before and I've never mentioned the Decepticons to her in my life."

Both Epps and Lennox gave him their full attention. "Go on," Lennox said.

"Yesterday she was upset because a police officer showed up at her house saying that her name had been flagged as part of a terrorist organization known as the D-cons, which sounds suspicious to me. Well, she just called me and said she knew of The Fallen, Soundwave, and Megatron. I asked her if her life was in danger and she said she didn't know, but apparently the Decepticons told her she was one of them."

Lennox and Epps exchanged glances with each other before Lennox said, "You call her back, you tell her that you're coming home ASAP, and that you're going to bring her here for questioning. When she asks what's going on, don't tell her until you're face to face. Understand?"

He saluted, "Yes sir."

* * *

When Alice had finished explaining the story behind Abigail, Barricade immediately noticed an incoming call being placed on Kristen's landline phone. He had quickly ended the conversation he was having with Alice and focused his attention on the phone call being made.

* * *

"Hey baby, calm down, you need to listen to me—

"Lee, what is going to happen? What if I really am a Decepticon, what if I really am one of _them_," Kristen remarked, trying to keep the tears that were burning in her eyes from spilling down her cheeks.

"Kristen _listen_ to me," he stated, "If you were really one of them, you wouldn't be a human."

Kristen stared down at the scar on her arm numbly, as if it were laughing at her. She didn't have the heart to tell him over the phone. She swallowed, "And what if I'm not?"

"What if you're not what?"

"What if I'm not human?"

"That's impossible—

"No it's not," she closed her eyes and breathed heavily, "No, Lee, it's not. I wasn't supposed to know about the Decepticons, neither was the rest of humanity. What happened in Mission City wasn't a terrorist attack, was it?"

"I can't tell you that over the phone. I'll be home later tonight to get you, and then you're going to come here with me."

"Lee, I can't wait that long."

"How do we know this is a secure line, how do you know that nobody is listening in on this conversation?"

"Can't you tell me anything?"

"The police officer that came to your home, what was his name?"

"Cade, Cade Barri, why?"

"Son of a bitch, what did the side of his car say?"

"The side of his car?"

"Never mind, you need to get out of there now, grab what you can and get the hell out of there. When you're safe, give me a call and let me know where you are, do you understand?"

"S-Safe?" she stammered, "How far away do you want me to go?"

"Meet me at the airport, okay? That should put enough distance between you and him."

"Him? Who's him?" she asked, feeling shaky.

"I will explain everything when I get there, I promise. Now get moving, we don't have much time to waste."

When the line went dead, Kristen sprang from her chair on the back deck and ran to her bedroom. Once there, she tugged a small, dusty suitcase out of her closet and set it on her bed. She quickly opened it and grabbed shirts and pants, hoping that she had enough outfits before she piled socks, panties, and bras on top of her shirts and pants. She decided she could go without pajamas; Lee would have some old t-shirts she could wear. After zipping up her suitcase, she quickly walked over to her purse and counted how much money she had. $200 in cash, and she knew she had another $400 on her debit card. That would be enough. Once she got out there, she could buy a toothbrush and other toiletries she needed. She sighed and looked around the room to see if there was anything else she would need. She grabbed her phone charger.

Kristen thought about whether or not to bring her laptop and decided that it would be better off left behind. She quickly printed off all the conversations between Abigail and BC911 and stuffed them in her suitcase before leaving her bedroom. She grabbed a light coat, shoved her feet into her shoes, grabbed her car keys and house keys, and left the house, locking the door behind her.

She threw her stuff in the back seat of the car before getting behind the wheel. Kristen knew she wouldn't feel better until she was a million miles away from this place. She turned on her car and hesitated before she switched the car into reverse. She dug the printed off conversations out of her suitcase and grabbed a pen out of her glove box.

_BC911_, she wrote and then crossed it off. _Cade Barri_ she wrote instead and stared at his name. Something about his name sounded so out of place, yet so familiar. She rearranged some of the letters, only to cross that off and rewrite his name. She wrote his last name first, then his first name. _Barri Cade._ Her eyes widened. _Barricade_. BC911 was his code name or something he was using to communicate with her on that chat program.

Kristen shifted into reverse as she quickly went to back out of her driveway. Just as she went to back out onto the road, a police car with its lights flashing stopped behind her, blocking any possible means of escape. _"No," _Kristen thought as she shifted back into park. She gripped the steering wheel tightly as she watched Cade get out of the car. She looked into her rearview mirror, only to notice an inscription above his rear wheel.

_To punish and enslave…_

"No," she exclaimed as she got out of the car and faced him, "I know who you are, and I'm not going with you."

"You may know who I am," he remarked as he seized her by the wrist, "But you're coming with me so I can tell you who you are."

"Lee is coming to get me."

"When he see's you're gone, he'll understand." He pulled her forward.

Kristen dug her feet into the ground, "I said I'm not going with you." She watched, horrified, as he glared at her, his eye sockets engulfed in a glowing, piercing red light.

"You don't have a choice." And he yanked her to his car.

Kristen watched, stunned as his back door opened by itself and he pushed her inside before the door shut by itself. She stared at him in complete disbelief when he suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind the wheel. "What's…what's going on?"

He chuckled, "You'll find out in due time." And he drove away.

Kristen watched as her house disappeared behind her, her car was left still running with the driver's side door open. She hoped her neighbor wouldn't notice…Lee, if he came by, he would know what happened, he would understand.

And hopefully she would too, very soon.

* * *

And so ends this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, please review!


	6. The Nightmare

I have a lot of concerns with this story, but for now I will let you read, I'll worry you with the concerns at the end. Thank you though to everyone who has been reading and reviewing, it keeps me going. It really does.

* * *

**6. The Nightmare**

Barricade wanted her to fall asleep, _so bad_. Instead, he felt her shuffling around in his back seat, and it was very irritating. He tried to concentrate on the road and not on her movements, but it was nearly impossible. "What are you doing?" he demanded when he finally couldn't take it anymore.

Kristen jumped at the intensity of his voice as it came through the speakers and sank back into the seat. "I'm just trying to find a way out," she mumbled.

"Well, you aren't going to, so sit still."

"You can feel me moving?"

"Yes, every jerk, every twitch, every _breath_ you take."

But that only made Kristen more uncomfortable. She tried not to move, she tried to make her breathing shallower, but trying not to move only made her agitated and restless, and she sat there shifting her position from time to time.

"Calm down," he grumbled.

"Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed, "You just kidnapped me, I've been sleepwalking and talking to you at night about things I don't even know about…maybe if you actually told me what was going on, I wouldn't be so jumpy."

"Why don't you start by telling me what you already know," he said.

Kristen sighed heavily. "This morning, for starters, I found out that I'm not human," she said, "My name is Abigail, not Kristen. I know nothing of my past or where I came from. I don't even know how old I am."

"You heard of the terrorist attacks at Mission City, didn't you?"

"Yes…"

"They weren't terrorist attacks. Our kind was the reason that Mission City was attacked. You see Kristen," he said, "There's only so much I wish to tell you. I don't want to talk to you; I want to talk to Abbie. I'm not after you, I'm after her. You don't exist."

"I'm sitting right here."

"Kristen is a program lock, designed to imprison Abbie. That's all you are, you will be overridden."

_**I told you not to tell. You and I could have existed together. But now you're going to be overridden. I told you, Kristen. You silly girl.**_

"Shut up!" she yelled as she placed her hands over her ears.

Barricade laughed, "Why don't you just get some sleep, Kristen? The more you get, the better."

* * *

When Lee got to the airport, he immediately whipped his phone out of his pocket and called Kristen. He was in a hurry; it was more than urgent that they got on a plane to head back to the NEST headquarters.

"Hi, you've reached Kristen, I can't answer the phone right now…"

"Damn it," he breathed and hung up before he was asked to leave a message. Instead he called her house phone, only to get the answering machine. "Come on," he muttered. She should have been to the airport long before now and met him as he was getting off the plane. Lee glanced around, trying to spot his fiancée's familiar face, but after searching what felt like the whole airport, parking lot included, he realized she wasn't there. Dread began to gnaw at him as he rented a car and headed to her house. If she wasn't there…he was too late.

* * *

"Barricade…where are we going?"

"Go to sleep Kristen."

"If I go to sleep, hell will break loose. Abbie is alive when I sleep."

"I know, but I want to talk to her."

_**Please Kristen. I'll sing you a lullaby.**_

Kristen lay down on the seat in the back. She was tired; they had been travelling for a while. The sun was setting, and Barricade was driving towards the twilight that was peaking over the horizon. She closed her eyes…a few minutes of sleep couldn't hurt.

She snapped her eyes open. Who was she kidding? If she fell asleep, nothing good would happen. If this was a U.S. military concern, if Lee was coming to get her, and if Barricade had branded the words "to punish and enslave" on himself, then there was no way Abbie was a good person. She wouldn't let herself become the nightmare.

"You're _not _the good guy," Kristen said as she sat up, "What really happened in Mission City, Barricade?"

"Mission City is where my leader, the true leader of the Decepticons, lost his life trying to obtain the Allspark," he explained, monotonously, his voice rumbling through the speakers, "The Allspark was our life source, turning ordinary human machinery into transformers. Megatron, my leader, wished to use it to create an army to destroy the Autobots and take control of this planet. However, he was destroyed when the Allspark was placed inside his chest. In this process, the Allspark was destroyed as well."

"And what is Abbie's role in all this?" she persisted, feeling like she was getting somewhere.

"Telling you has no significance."

"It may make me more willing to obey you."

"I doubt that."

"Just…please?"

He sighed heavily. "Abbie is a pretender, which is a transformer that has the ability to change into a human form, unlike most transformers since they usually have a vehicle form," he explained, "As far as I can tell, pretenders only exist within the Decepticon faction, and there are only two of them."

"Abbie and who else?" she asked.

"Alice is the other. Originally, three were created, but the first one, selected to be named Anne, was scrapped after complications. Alice has her own complications, but they were not enough to keep her from existing. She is not a full sized transformer, but is nearly the same size as a human in her robot form. Regardless, she is extremely lethal. Abbie is the only normal one, able to keep her full size when she transforms into her robot form."

"Why were they created?"

"Mostly for a tactical advantage, you see, our enemy, the Autobots, would never expect Decepticons to exist among humankind. It's ingenious really, even though some Decepticons scorn at the idea of having to stoop to something so degrading. Not only could we spy on the Autobots with ease, but we could build an army right under the Autobots noses."

"And you need Abbie in order to copy her design."

"Not necessarily," he said, "Abbie herself is an extremely lethal weapon, just like her sister, Alice. She knows what the Decepticons are planning now, she understands her usefulness, and if everything goes according to plan, creating a pretender army will not be necessary."

"But…you're evil."

"Kristen, you _are_ Abbie. You were created to be evil. You cannot change who you are, what you are meant to be."

She lay back down on the seat, feeling defeated. Kristen felt it was inevitable. One way or another, she was doomed to become Abbie, an evil weapon that was used for the destruction of mankind. She closed her eyes; there was no sense in trying to fight a battle she wouldn't win. Why would the destruction of mankind matter anyway? She wasn't human.

* * *

Lee felt a chill run up his spine when he finally arrived to Kristen's house. He parked the rental car on the side of the road and hastily climbed out of the car. He ran up to her car that was parked at the end of the driveway. It was still running, the door on the driver's side was open as if she had walked away, but Lee knew that wasn't the case. Hand trembling, he fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed his commander, Will Lennox.

"This is Lennox speaking," he answered.

"Sir, its McCoy. We've got a situation."

"Let me guess, we're too late."

"I'm afraid so," he remarked as he looked inside her car. He noticed papers on the front seat and he picked them up, looking them over. He exhaled deeply, "Sir, you're not going to believe this…"

* * *

"Am I just your tool, Barricade?"

The Decepticon felt maliciously delighted when he heard the small voice come from the backseat. Kristen sat motionlessly in the back seat, for once, even her breathing had subsided. He knew Kristen did not have control at the moment. "Would you like to be, Abbie?" he replied.

She frowned, "You will be mine, for the moment." She smashed the plastic divider between the front seats and backseat out and proceeded to climb into the driver's seat before Barricade had a chance to protest.

He slammed on the brakes causing Abbie to smash against the steering wheel. "What do you think you're doing?" he growled. He half-expected Abbie to be submissive, she had been when she sent him those messages.

"I _suggest_ you turn around," she said, "That dumb prick, Kristen, left our conversation for the Autobots to easily find."

"We've been travelling for hours…"

"Then get moving!"

Barricade growled as he quickly turned around and sped back in the direction they had come from. He flew above the speed limit, much faster than any man-made automobile could travel. As he drove along, tempting speeds of 350 miles per hour, he contemplated killing Abbie since he was so severely disappointed by her first impression. But he had pried too far to kill her now, if the Autobots found out about the Decepticons plans, it was on his head.

* * *

"Don't reveal anything over the phone, gather what you can and report back to headquarters immediately. If it's hot, we'll come back and do a thorough investigation," Lennox instructed.

"What about Kristen though? She's not here, and a normal person doesn't leave their car running at the end of their driveway with the driver's door wide open," Lee replied.

"This is all we can do for now, I'm sorry."

Lee sighed heavily, feeling defeated. "Alright sir," he said after some reluctance, "I'll see you back at headquarters."

"I'll be waiting," Lennox responded before hanging up.

Lee didn't listen as the line went dead as he slammed his phone back inside his pocket. He grabbed the papers and headed inside the house to find whatever he could. He figured he'd grab her computer, if it was still there, and whatever else looked promising. He only hoped that this wouldn't take too long.

* * *

Barricade quickly retraced his path and arrived back at the Hise residence within the hour. Both he and Abbie noticed the rental car parked on the roadside and a light was on her bedroom. Barricade quickly shut off his headlights and parked where he wouldn't be seen. "Who's here?" he asked.

"Lee, Kristen's fiancé," Abbie replied as she started to get out, "You'll have to kill him; more than likely he's seen too much."

"Why can't you kill him?" Barricade asked accusingly.

"I suppose I could," Abbie remarked, "I'll be right back." She got out and closed the door behind herself. Right away, she noticed that Kristen's car was shut off and the driver's side door was closed. She peeked inside the window only to see that the papers Kristen had left on the front seat were gone, just as she suspected.

With lightning like agility, she crossed the driveway and entered the home, determined to find Lee, erase his existence, and clean up the mess Kristen had carelessly left behind. Quietly, Abbie went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She placed it in her back pocket because Lee wouldn't notice it there.

"Lee?" she called, "Lee, are you here?" She heard footsteps upstairs and listened as they came down the stairs and entered the kitchen where she was.

"God Kristen," he remarked when he saw her, "What's going on, where have you been?"

She smiled and struck, slicing the blade across his throat. "All my secrets will die with you," she purred as he grabbed his neck in horror, in an effort to stop the bleeding.

"Kristen…" he gurgled, "How…h-how could you?"

"Kristen is dead. I know you're aware of the transformers. I am one of them, I am a Decepticon. My name is Abigail. I was created on this mud ball planet and set free, that's how I was found, wandering around, naked, weak, and clueless. But now I remember, I remember _everything_."

He collapsed to the floor, and Abbie waited as he died. When he stopped breathing, she began searching his pockets and found the papers. She then quickly went upstairs and grabbed Kristen's laptop. She turned off the light behind her as she left the room, just so nothing would look suspicious. As she headed out of the house, she made sure she didn't leave any bloody footprints behind. She made her way towards Barricade, but noticed his holoform in the driver's seat. She frowned and got in the passenger's seat beside him, letting the laptop and papers rest on her lap.

Barricade looked her over before saying, "That was fast."

She smiled, "I'm ready to go."

He pulled back onto the road and drove away from the crime scene. After a few minutes of silence, Barricade asked gruffly, "Am I still your tool?"

"Only if you wish to be," she answered.

"Then it's my turn," he replied.

Abbie didn't have time to react when the seatbelt suddenly came over her and pinned her to the seat. She couldn't move her arms or get free from the seat. She glared at Barricade before hissing, "What are you doing?"

"I don't like being told what to do, especially by someone who is of lesser rank than I am. And you broke my barrier, that can't easily be fixed."

"It was only out of necessity," she protested.

"Regardless…we're going to scrap those papers as well as that computer," he said before adding, "And I'll attempt to refrain from scrapping you as well."

Abbie glared daggers into his dashboard, but she didn't say anything. Barricade looked back to the road and sighed heavily. He could tell that Abbie was very upfront and demanding, the first message she sent him proved that alone. And he could tell she wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted. Alice warned him that there was a reason she was locked in this mode and Barricade could see how potentially dangerous Abbie could be.

Things remained quiet between them for the rest of the evening as Barricade continued driving. He drove well into the night and stopped at about 1:00am. Abigail glanced out the window only to notice they were inside an abandoned warehouse. She sighed heavily before asking, "Are you going to let me go?"

The seatbelt was still tightly around her and hesitantly, Barricade loosened it so that she could get out. Abbie took the papers and the computer and got out, the Decepticon behind her transformed into his robot form as soon as she had exited. She stared up at him for a moment before he said, "Hand over the computer."

Abbie handed it to him, and he took the tiny device between his fingers and crushed it. He then charged one of his guns so that it was on a low power and shot the papers from Abbie's hands, leaving nothing but ash behind. His shot was so precise that Abbie had not been hit. She smiled, "That was impressive."

He made as if he rolled his optics, "You haven't seen anything yet."

She looked at him, "What are you plans Barricade, now that you have me?"

"We're going to go find Alice so that she can override the lock that is keeping you in this form. But it will take a few days to get down to where she is."

"If you drive like you did earlier this evening we'll be down there much sooner."

"Driving like that continuously is too taxing on my systems. We're going at my pace. We have time," Barricade explained, "But for now I must recharge. I hope I can trust you not to sabotage my systems while I am doing so."

"Maybe."

He glared at her before walking away. Abbie glanced around before sitting back against one of the walls. She could feel herself growing weaker as the night dragged on, and she knew she would lose control come morning when Kristen woke up. She looked herself over, seeing the blood that had soaked the clothes she was wearing. She wished she could see Kristen's reaction when she woke up, when Barricade told her what she had done. Abbie leaned back and closed her eyes. It wouldn't be long now before she was back in control.

* * *

Will Lennox knew something was wrong the moment Lee McCoy was late returning. And as the hours ticked on and he still failed to show, Lennox felt the worry begin to gnaw at his nerves. He looked over to his trusted comrade, Robert Epps, and said, "You want to go help me find McCoy?"

Epps looked to him, "He still isn't back yet?"

"No," he replied, "And I have a bad feeling about it. If something happened to that boy, I'm not going to be happy."

"Let's go then."

Despite the hour, the two of them sought permission to leave. Once granted, they soon were on a plane headed east. Lee had left the address to Kristen's house in Vermont, and once they had landed, they immediately obtained a rental car and plugged the address they had into the GPS that was in the car. It took them about an hour and a half to finally get to the house, and when they saw the rental car parked on the side of the road, along with a car at the end of the driveway, both Lennox and Epps got a sinking feeling.

Not caring that they didn't have permission to enter the home, Lennox parked the car and they both walked inside, only to find the gruesome sight that was waiting for them in the kitchen. "Holy shit," Epps breathed, "If this happened to McCoy, I would hate to see what became of his girl."

"We need to call in a team of investigators and seal this place off, something is going on, and I have a feeling that the Decepticons are involved," Lennox stated.

"Right," Epps said as he took out his phone to make a few phone calls.

"Optimus isn't going to like this…"

* * *

Now here's my concern:

I have a lack of inspiration/no motivation/have lost complete interest in this story. I hate it, it sucks. I want to press delete and end its miserable life...but I'm also torn because I said I would never delete a story. So...here's what I'm thinking about doing: I might give up on it for a little while, meaning no updates unless inspiration suddenly bites me in the ass or something. But if I leave it for too long I'm afraid, I'll never finish it. However, if anyone is interested in taking the story, by all means, PM me, we'll talk. Or, if anyone has any ideas, PM me, we'll talk too. I don't want to press delete, but if I don't hear anything within the next few weeks/months, the story is going to be taken down.

Review please, and let me know what you think.


	7. High Octane

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter guys, it keeps my hopes up. I'm not going to delete this story (especially after writing this chapter, I think the chaotic fun is only beginning), I'll keep plugging away at it though until it ends. Nonetheless, thank you so much for your support. Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

**7. High Octane**

"What exactly did Lee McCoy tell you?"

Will Lennox hated being forced into the hot seat; it was half the reason why he had joined the Air Force. His job was to win battles, not take grilling questions from none other than Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. He drilled his brain, trying to remember his last conversations with his subordinate.

"He was upset because his girlfriend was being harassed by a police officer…" he began and then continued, "He said that the officer informed her that she had been flagged as a terrorist for a group called the D-cons. He said she knew about The Fallen, about Soundwave, and Megatron. But apparently, she was informed that she was one of the Decepticons."

"Anything else?"

"He said his girlfriend looked like she had been kidnapped when he got to her home. He also found something because some of his last words to me were 'you're not going to believe this,' but we haven't found anything."

"The fact that it was a police officer makes me suspect Barricade," Optimus said, looking away from Lennox, "I'm sure you remember him."

"I thought he was dead."

"As did I," the Autobot leader responded, "I say we make finding Barricade a priority. I don't know what the Decepticons are up to, but it sounds like they are planning something big."

"What about McCoy's girlfriend?" Lennox asked, "Any ideas about that?"

"I am afraid it is too soon to say, if the Decepticons have her, then she may already be dead. From the nature of the injuries, I do not believe it was Barricade who killed McCoy."

"What about the girlfriend?"

"If he suspected her of being one of the Decepticons…"

"Then it's a possibility," Lennox remarked and then sighed heavily, "The Decepticons wouldn't want a human ally though."

"I don't think she's human…"

* * *

When she woke up, Kristen hoped beyond belief that everything she had witnessed during her sleep was a horrible, horrible nightmare. She was afraid to open her eyes, but when she did, the first thing she saw was the blood on her hands, the blood on her shirt, and she felt her stomach violently knot up. "Oh God…" she breathed as she stared at her shaking hands, "It wasn't a dream. I-I killed him…I killed Lee."

"You'll get over it."

Kristen looked over to see Barricade in his robot form standing not too far away with a smug look on his face. She stood quickly and backed away from him. She hadn't seen him in his robot form before and he was quite terrifying. "This is your entire fault," she said, fighting back her tears.

"No, actually, it's yours. You were the one who contacted me first; you got yourself into this mess."

She felt anger burn through her as she realized that it wasn't her fault, or Barricade's. It was Abbie. Everything had been Abbie's fault since the very beginning. Abbie was out to destroy the life she knew. Her love was gone, she had been ripped away from her home and family, and now she was thrust into this new reality, this new and horrible dark dream.

"So…" Kristen mused as she tried to get her mind off of what Abbie had done the previous night, "When Abbie takes over, I'll be a robot like you?"

"According to Alice, yes."

"And then what will happen?"

"You'll be assigned a mission, kind of like how Alice is currently spying for us."

"You can trust Abbie that much, after only one night?"

Barricade frowned as he remembered how he was not impressed with Abbie's behavior last night. He had hated how controlling she was, how she quickly made him _her_ tool when quite obviously it should have been the other way around. And he felt suddenly irritated that he would have to deal with her again whenever Kristen fell asleep.

"It's none of your business," he said as he transformed into his vehicle form, "Get in. We need to get to get going."

"Where are we going?" Kristen asked as she reluctantly climbed inside of Barricade's passenger seat.

"Tranquility, Nevada," Barricade answered as he closed his door and sped forward out of the warehouse, "According to Alice, Sam is preparing to go to college at Princeton."

"So…why don't we just go to Princeton and meet her there?"

"I fear we do not have the time to wait for her to get there."

"It's a much shorter drive from Vermont to New Jersey…"

Barricade growled as he slowed to a stop, grinding his tires uneasily against the pavement. If he waited a few days for Alice to get to Princeton he wouldn't be wasting that much time. In the mean time he could study both Kristen and Abbie better. While he didn't like Abbie much, Kristen's innocence rather intrigued him. But what would they do while they waited for Alice to arrive? He wasn't one for driving around in circles aimlessly while making pointless small talk. He would have to improvise.

"Alright, we'll meet Alice at Princeton," he said as he sent a message to Alice, informing her of his plans and that she was to rendezvous with him and Abbie there. Barricade knew that depending on traffic, the drive would take about a day. By the time they got there, Kristen more than likely would be sleeping again and Abbie would take over. He frowned at the thought.

Kristen didn't say anything and instead focused her attention out the window. She didn't have much to say to Barricade. Even though he was so easy to blame because he was evil, Kristen knew that he had done nothing wrong. He reacted how he was supposed to. Abbie was the one who had screwed her life up. But was it her life or was it Abbie's? Who took rightful ownership of this heap of metal that walked the Earth?

Could Kristen even fight against Abbie? Whose soul was instilled inside? If she could fight…if she chose to fight for control, what did she have to fight for? Kristen would have to learn a new life anyway, she would have to let go, abandon everything she thought she knew and become who she was supposed to be. If she won, did she have to follow the path of evil? Could she choose to be free?

She tried to swallow down the heartache in her chest, the one that wanted to cripple her. She missed Lee…she missed her house, her parents. Lee hadn't deserved anything that happened to him. If she had known sooner, he wouldn't have been killed. Kristen squeezed her eyes closed, not wanting to cry in front of Barricade. Lee had never gotten to see the truck that she had bought for him to fix up. Lee had never gotten to see his birthday… She thought about his parents, about how grief stricken they would be. She wondered what the Army would tell them. She wondered what the Army would tell her parents. She wondered if she would be accused of murder…

"You seem to be deep in thought."

Kristen nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Barricade's voice. She looked over to see his holoform looking at her. "I, uh, yeah…you wouldn't care to know what I was thinking about," she replied, "Since you're a Decepticon and all…I know you don't care for petty emotions."

"Well, that's true," he remarked, "But even as a Decepticon I can recognize when someone is suffering, like you are."

"But you don't care that I am suffering," she quipped.

Barricade grinned. Kristen was so much more amusing than Abbie. "Of course not, why should I? You're quite obviously mourning the loss of an organic that was just going to die anyway."

"He was so young…he had so much going for him."

"Its _war_ Kristen, it was the path he chose, it was a risk he knew he had to face. He was killed by an enemy he was well aware of; you weren't the one who killed him."

"I…miss him," she admitted quietly.

"Oh, _please_. You're a transformer, he an organic. It would have never worked anyway. You'll find flirting with a Decepticon much more…tantalizing."

Kristen shot him a glare, only causing him to laugh. "I don't find anything remotely attractive about scrap heaps such as you," she said.

And this time he glared at her. Kristen couldn't help but smile. "Don't forget you will be overridden," he growled.

She shrugged, "So I must torment you while I can. You won't enjoy it when Abbie does."

And Barricade knew with a sinking feeling that she was right. He looked away from her and focused on the road. Even though Abbie was a Decepticon, there was something about her that he just couldn't trust…

* * *

"Are you _sure_ you didn't see anything?" Epps asked Kristen's neighbor, Mrs. Denise, for the millionth time it felt like.

"Well, I've told you everything I know," she said, "There was a cop hanging around her place, but I don't know if that has any significance or not."

"A cop?"

"Yeah, there was something about him that was sketchy. I mean, I know bad cops exist, but this guy was just plain old creepy. I don't know if he suspected Kristen of something or not, or maybe he was just stalking her. Maybe she was having an affair with him? I don't know. She was always a good girl."

"An affair?"

"I said I didn't know. She seemed to be really into that Lee boy. He was such a sweet man."

Epps wanted to groan, he hated interviewing the elderly. They always went off on tangents like this avoiding the details he wanted. "Did you notice anything unusual yesterday, before Kristen went missing?" he asked.

"No," she said, "And I didn't notice anything unusual after she went missing either."

"Well, thank you for your time—

"Kristen always was a chronic sleepwalker. Did you know she was adopted? The Hise's found her wandering the streets naked a couple years ago. She didn't know who she was or anything. It was like a scene straight out of Kyle XY…she was a genius. Her intelligence level blew everyone away."

"Why didn't you tell me this in the first place?"

"You didn't ask."

* * *

Barricade watched as the sun set. He had pulled into an empty parking lot to get some rest, completely forgetting that when Kristen fell asleep, Abbie would be awakened. He was just beginning to slip into recharge when a sudden slap to his dashboard startled him awake.

"So you like Kristen _better_ than me?" Abbie demanded, glaring.

Barricade didn't want to activate his holoform. Instead he grumbled, "What's it to you?"

"She's not even real."

"Then you shouldn't feel so threatened."

She growled, "My very existence is at stake! I won't let you ruin my plans because of _your_ petty feelings for someone who isn't even real."

"What in the _pit_ are you talking about?"

"You _like_ her."

"Not in that way."

"Flirting with a Decepticon?"

"I do not need to explain myself to you." He proceeded to open his passenger side door and shake his chassis until Abbie fell out and landed on the pavement with a hard thump. He then quickly shut and locked his door.

Barricade tried to ignore the obscenities she lashed out at him, he tried to ignore every kick to his doors, his hood, his fenders and bumpers, he tried to ignore the feeling of her fists beating against his windows, his roof. He wasn't letting her in. But, after a while, he got sick of it. He growled as he transformed into his robot mode and swatted Abbie across the parking lot, knocking her out. Feeling relieved for the first time that evening, he transformed back into his vehicle form and drifted off into a fitful recharge.

* * *

When Kristen woke up the next morning, she thought for sure she had been hit by a tractor trailer and left to die. With a painful groan, she slowly sat up, her head spinning as she did so. She observed Barricade parked at the other end of the parking lot and with a grunt, she managed to climb to her feet. Kristen crossed the parking lot, despite the pain walking caused. When she reached him, she gently knocked on his window. His passenger door immediately flew open and Kristen collapsed inside with a grimace on her face. Barricade shut the door and activated his holoform. She glanced over at him and asked through clenched teeth, "Wild night last night?"

"Abbie deserved it."

"Well whatever you did, I sure feel it."

"A little pain never hurts anyone."

"It's more than a little…"

"You'll live."

She sighed heavily. "What's the plan for today?" she asked, trying to get her mind off the pain.

"Hopefully doing something other than sitting in this parking lot."

"Well, you're a Decepticon; we could go blow things up."

Barricade smirked, "As stress relieving as that would be, I don't think it's a good idea to draw attention to ourselves right now."

"Well, besides blowing things up, what do Decepticons do for fun?"

"Probably what everyone else does…we pull pranks on each other, we spend time with our mates, play games, etc."

"I don't think it would kill you to hit the car wash…"

"Are you saying I'm dirty?"

"It depends on your definition of dirty."

"Don't go there."

"Why?"

"You _don't_ want to know," he said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I'm going to go refuel, something you should probably do too."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, it depends. Do you prefer unleaded or diesel?"

"Um…"

"We'll find out. This is the only good thing about the human race, they come with flavors," he said as he pulled into a gas station and proceeded to refuel.

Kristen watched as he used the most expensive gasoline. It appeared Barricade only settled for the best. When he finished, they pulled away from the gas station and went back to the parking lot. He stopped and then glanced over at her. "You know how I said you didn't want to know if I was dirty or not?" he asked.

"And I said it depended on your definition of dirty."

"Let's say the sexual definition."

Kristen tensed a bit, but tried to retain her cool. "What about it?" she asked.

"I'm _very_ dirty. Come on, get out," he said.

Confused and mildly afraid, Kristen did as he said, and was surprised when his holoform got out as well. He motioned for her to come to him, which she did after a bit of hesitance. He then led her over to his gas cap, and Kristen immediately noticed that he had spilled a bit of gasoline down his side. She looked at him skeptically, "You don't want me to…clean you off, do you?"

He smirked wickedly, "It could be worse. You'll like it, trust me." And he forced her to her knees.

Kristen couldn't ignore the fact of how awkward this looked. If anyone saw…they would think she was insane. However, she tried to block out all thoughts from her mind and concentrated on her own curiosity. For every action, there is an equal or opposite reaction… Kristen wondered how Barricade would react as she lightly pressed the tip of her tongue against his chassis and slowly licked up his side. She smirked when she felt his frame shutter at her touch.

The flavor of the octane on her tongue ignited her taste buds…it was wonderfully delicious. She continued to slowly lap up the excess octane, drawing small circles and complex patterns with her tongue, sending Barricade's senses into a frenzy. Before she could finish, he yanked her to her feet. She stared at him, seeing the pleasure dancing in his dark eyes.

Barricade stared back, unsure of what to do. He couldn't take his eyes off her lips, her lips which were covered in a beautiful, delicious looking layer of octane. Oh, Abbie would hate him tonight.

He crushed his lips against hers, before pressing her back against his vehicle form, pinning her between metal and holographic flesh. She groaned. Barricade knew this would've been so much better if he were in his robot form, if she were in hers. He preferred the sound of metal scraping against metal over the softness of flesh.

And as much as he wanted to have her, he wouldn't. Not now. He could deal with Abbie's reactions to him kissing her. But if they were to have sex…he didn't want to have to kill her, not before he had his fun with Kristen.

His sweet, octane flavored Kristen.

* * *

And so ends this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please review!


	8. Flirting with Disaster

**8. Flirting with Disaster**

He sat with her in his back seat, holding her close to him. Kristen had her arms wrapped around his holoform, her head resting comfortably on his chest. Barricade gently stroked his fingers through her hair, captivated by the way it felt between his fingers. He had half hoped that she would whisper to him like lovers so often did about nothing at all. He wanted to hear her secrets, he wanted to hear how she felt, he wanted to know how broken she was. Maybe he would take the time to make her whole.

Barricade glanced out the window as the sun began to dip below the horizon. He listened as Kristen's breathing began to relax and he gently shook her before saying, "Don't fall asleep."

She gave a small smile, "Why?"

"You know perfectly well why."

"Are you afraid of her?"

"Of course not, she's just the most conniving, irritating piece of machinery I have ever met."

Kristen's smile grew as she heard him say that before she sighed and asked, "Why are we acting like this?"

"Why?" he repeated before he hesitated, "Is it necessary to explain why? We can't just let it happen?"

"Decepticons don't love."

"Not in front of anyone, but it is way too soon to say anything like that. Just don't fall asleep."

"I have to sleep at some point Barricade."

Barricade sighed heavily before he said, "Just give me a warning before you do fall asleep."

"Well," she mumbled as she closed her eyes, "I'm going to fall asleep."

Barricade didn't try to stop her as he watched her chest rise and fall before her breathing stopped altogether. He was quick to deactivate his holoform when that happened, just as he heard Alice growl venomously as she sat up. "Have your circuits crossed, Barricade?" she demanded angrily.

"What happens between Kristen and I stays between Kristen and I," he growled back, his voice heavy in his speakers.

"You _kissed_ her. You let her turn you on."

Barricade felt himself smirk, recalling how Kristen had cleaned the spilled gasoline from his chassis. "Are you jealous, Abbie?" he asked, "If I kissed you too would it make things better?"

"Don't."

"Then don't interfere."

"What would the other Decepticons think, Barricade? You're _flirting_ with disaster, with something that isn't even real…an organic wannabe."

"I could care _less_ what the others think, Abbie. My loyalties are not to them…they're not to you."

"Megatron would hate you."

Barricade snarled as he transformed. He dumped Abbie roughly on the ground before he pinned her beneath his claw-like hand. "Understand this, Abbie. Megatron would not tolerate you as I am. He would've killed you long before now. Your need to be in control of everything is overbearing, obnoxious, and ridiculous," he seethed.

"Just _wait_ until I am freed from this program lock!"

"You _won't_ be freed from anything, Abbie. Alice warned me about you, she warned me all about you."

"And just what are you going to do?" she demanded.

"You're going to be overridden. You're too much of a burden. I can't trust you, and if I can't trust you, certainly none of the other Decepticons will."

She growled as she managed to wriggle her way out from under his grasp. Before Barricade had time to stop her, she took off running. "Abbie!" he shouted as he transformed into his vehicle mode and drove off after her, "You better stop right now!"

But she didn't, she only kept running, ducking into narrow alleys and running through buildings in an attempt to lose the Decepticon police officer. If _she_ was just going to be overridden and Kristen was going to be allowed to win…_no_ she wouldn't have it. She knew Alice was on her way to Princeton. She would go and find her there; she could hide out long enough until then. Alice would surely free her; she was her sister after all. She ducked inside another alleyway before slipping inside a restaurant. She went out the back entrance before disappearing down a dark street, out of Barricade's view.

* * *

The Decepticon tracker growled when he realized he had lost Abbie. He was a _tracker_ but she had managed to evade him. He really didn't care if something happened to her, but he wanted to rip his own spark out of his chest for knowing he didn't want anything to happen to Kristen. It wouldn't kill him if he lost her; he had just made too many plans to lose her now, before any of them could be accomplished. He hated being forced into positions such as these. However, if Alice could manage to stay out of trouble, he might be able to find Kristen in the morning. She would try to look for him, he hoped.

Thinking quickly, he tuned his comlink to Alice's frequency before barking, "Where in the pit are you?"

"I am on my way to Princeton…I should be there soon."

"_How_ soon?"

"Tomorrow afternoon…what's going on?"

"Abbie ran away, I fear she is going to try and meet you at the campus. If she should happen to find you before I find her, you _cannot_ override the lock."

"Oh, so you're seeing that now?" she remarked.

Barricade scowled, knowing she was being sarcastic. "I don't know what kind of loyalties you have towards Abbie—

"None, Barricade. _None_—

"Then you should have no problem deleting Abbie's influence from Kristen, permanently."

"Kristen, huh? So you and the program lock are on a first name basis?"

"Is that a problem, Alice?"

"Well no, it's just that she's an organic sympathizer, trapped inside the body of a Decepticon."

"She's the perfect little tease."

"I _don't_ care to know," Alice replied, "If I should happen to run into Abbie before you are able to find her, I will do my best to destroy her from within Kristen. It won't be easy. Do keep in mind that this is not my primary objective."

"It is now."

"You are not my commanding officer Barricade…my orders come from The Fallen himself."

Barricade growled. He hated any mention of The Fallen. He was well aware that Megatron was The Fallen's apprentice, but Megatron had mastered everything. If only someone besides a Prime could kill him.

Alice groaned at the tracker's silence before she said, "If I find her, I'll let you know. Alice out." And she ended the transmission.

Barricade sighed heavily before making a U-turn and speeding off towards Princeton University.

* * *

Kristen was shocked when she woke up the next morning only to find herself lying on an old mattress in an alleyway. As she sat up and glanced about, she realized Barricade was nowhere in sight. "Barricade?" she called out lightly, "Barricade, where are you?"

She hadn't had a dream last night to know what Abbie had done; she was just there, so far from home without anywhere to go, with no means of contacting Barricade. And she couldn't go home anyway, the military was more than likely after her, and Abbie would just bring her back here. She figured her and Barricade weren't on the same page anymore…she wouldn't be here by herself otherwise. Swallowing hard, she got up from the mattress and smoothed her hair out as best as possible before wandering out of the alleyway onto a shady, deserted street.

Uneasy, Kristen glanced about herself, trying to figure out which way to go. She wandered down the street, trying to find any kind of clue as to the name of the town she was in. She guessed she had to be close to Princeton University. Alice was on her way there, but she had no idea what Alice looked like, so meeting her would have to happen by sheer happenstance. Kristen knew that Barricade knew Alice was headed to Princeton as well…if she could just find him…if she could find the university…

There had to be a sign somewhere indicating where the college was…

* * *

Barricade was exhausted…

He had made it to the university and parked himself in the main entrance of the campus. Luckily, since his alternative mode was that of a police car, most humans wouldn't get suspicious as to why he was there and why he was parked for so long. He knew that Abbie had to come this way at some point, but he didn't know if Kristen was smart enough to think to come to the campus…

But, that was if Abbie hadn't decided to play games with him and go somewhere else.

Barricade erased the thought from his mind, there was no way Abbie could avoid coming here. But he smirked at the thought of Kristen running to him, trying desperately to find him. No, he wouldn't be waiting with arms wide open. That's something the _hero_ would do. Instead, he would just pin her down and well…he needed a good lay. He didn't care what Abbie thought anymore. Hopefully, soon, the program lock could be destroyed with every trace of Abbie along with it. He was desperate for the sound and feel of Kristen's metal chassis grinding, bending, breaking, and clashing against his own armor…his own metallic flesh.

He sighed, enjoying the feel of his arousal, but he fought it back. Kristen wasn't here yet.

* * *

"Sir, we discovered McCoy had a camera on him while he was at the Hise household."

Will Lennox turned to his subordinate before asking, "And?"

"We developed the photos he took...you might want to take a look at this."

Lennox followed his subordinate over to a computer where he had the image loaded. He could make out words on the screen, but he didn't have enough time to read what the words said. "What's it say?" he asked.

"It's a chat conversation between two people used on highly elusive and impossible to decrypt Decepticon network."

"Between who?"

"An Abbie character and a BC911 character…but if you ask me, all fingers point to Barricade being BC911."

"Well, that's a better username than ladiesman217."

But the subordinate didn't laugh, "Sir, basically this Abbie character is informing Barricade that she is a pretender, a transformer with the ability to transform into a _human_. She says that she is a Decepticon is stuck in her human form, but she needs her sister, Alice, to help override the program lock that has her stuck."

"How…is that even possible? Why is she trying to get Barricade to help her?"

"It does not say…"

"So we're now looking for an Alice and an Abbie, in addition to Kristen and Barricade."

"At least looking for four people is easier than looking for one."

"Yeah, well, Optimus isn't going to like this."

* * *

Kristen could not believe she hadn't stumbled across any signs pointing in any direction towards the campus. She didn't dare go in any of the shops, for fear that someone might recognize her, but she knew she was just as easy of a target wandering the streets like she was. She knew she had to take a chance…and the little coffee shop up the street looked like her best bet.

Taking a deep breath, she went inside and immediately noticed a magazine rack. Making sure she was correct about the assumption of her whereabouts, Kristen checked the local newspaper to see what the address on it was. She was relieved to see she was in Princeton, New Jersey. After putting the newspaper back down, she went over to the counter, where the barista smiled at her and said in a peppy, cheerful voice, "Good morning! What can I help you with?"

Kristen put on her best fake smile and said, "Hi…I'm not from around these parts…I'm just touring the town. Um…could you tell me where Princeton University is?"

The barista gave a light laugh, "Of course! Just keep going down the street, take the first right you come to and then the second left and you'll be right at the main entrance."

"Thanks," Kristen replied and she dug through her pockets before she pulled out a dollar bill. She tipped the barista before heading out of the coffee shop. As she walked down the street in the direction the barista had said, she couldn't help but glance up at the sky to see where the sun was. It was directly overhead, and Kristen realized it was noon. She still had a few more hours until she fell asleep…

She just needed to find Barricade before then.

* * *

"Alice to Barricade."

"Did you find her?"

"No. I just arrived on campus. Are you here?"

"Yes, but that won't do you much good."

"Well, while Sam is moving in maybe you can give me a description of her and I'll do some looking around."

Barricade gave Alice as much of a description as he could possibly muster. "Well," he sighed, "She's got light brown hair that goes part way down her back, greenish eyes; she's five foot seven, white skin…luscious curves…"

Wait…did he just say that out loud?

"Um…Barricade? I think you need to just sleep with her and get it over with already."

The Decepticon tracker didn't know what to say, nothing other than, "…Duly noted. If you see her, let me know. I'm parked at the main entrance."

"Well, I'm too busy to visit. Sorry," Alice said.

Barricade didn't want a visit from her anyway. Just Kristen.

* * *

Kristen was surprised that when she arrived to the campus, there were all sorts of people running around, parents with students, people moving in, people playing around. She stifled a breath as she stopped dead in her tracks. It was moving in day. That meant Sam was here. That meant Alice was here. That meant Barricade _just had_ to be here somewhere. Off guard and unsure, Kristen looked about nervously before stepping forward. That's when a black and white gleam caught her eye and sent her heart soaring.

Barricade! She wanted to shout his name, but she knew better. She didn't want to run towards him either. The less attention she drew to herself, the better. Inhaling deeply, she walked towards him, hoping that nobody was looking at her. She figured everybody else was too busy moving in and reconnecting with old friends to pay too much attention to her or Barricade.

Kristen was stunned when his holoform suddenly appeared outside the vehicle. He smirked as he leaned back against his chassis, his arms slightly extended towards her. She felt her heart leap inside her chest as her feet disobeyed her will and she began to run towards him. She didn't stop until she was enveloped inside his arms. She wanted to cry, but she knew it would be terribly out of place…for the first time in her life, she was so happy to see him.

"I knew you would be glad to see me," he murmured, his deep voice rumbling inside her ears, "Come on, get in."

Kristen obeyed as he released her. She went around his chassis and got in the front passenger seat. As soon as her door closed, Barricade peeled away from the university. His holoform materialized in the driver's seat as they drove away. Kristen looked at him confused, "Where are we going? I thought Alice—

"Alice can wait. We've only got a few hours before Abbie comes back. Last night she was such a glitch."

"What happened?"

"She ran away after I told her she was going to be overridden."

Kristen looked at him shocked, "Are you serious?"

"I like you better."

She smirked, "You don't seem like the type that settles down with one girl."

"I don't. What makes you think I care to commit myself to you? We've only been together a few days."

She didn't say anything, and Barricade didn't care to guess if what he had said had hurt her or not. He only continued driving until they were out of town…and when he came across a few abandoned fields, that's when they stopped. Kristen looked at him suspiciously before saying, "Barricade…why are we _here_?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before he turned into one of the fields. The grass was tall enough to conceal him as he drove further into the field before stopping again.

"Barricade?"

"Get out," he said as his holoform disappeared.

Hesitantly, Kristen opened the door and got out. She hadn't so much as shut the door when Barricade's holoform suddenly appeared directly in front of her. "When you're a transformer," he breathed as he snatched her in his arms, "This will be so much better." And he captured her lips in a possessive kiss.

Kristen gasped as he didn't hesitate and slipped his cold hands under her shirt, tracing his fingertips over her torso, teasingly, until he found the clips that held her bra together. "Barricade," she remarked quickly, breaking the kiss and taking a step back from him, "Like you said…we've only been together a few days."

"That _shouldn't_ matter."

"Barricade…I've never…"

"Oh Primus," he breathed seductively as he retook her in his arms, "Fresh flesh…oh aren't you a treat."

Kristen took another step back, "I…I'm not ready—

"Oh but I am," he said as he pulled her against him, "And you will not deny me."

She slapped him across the face, "Will you stop it? I'm _always_ going to be a virgin…and until I'm ready, you'll have to just…jack off!" And she twisted out of his grip before getting back inside his vehicle form.

Barricade growled. All virgins were the same. He deactivated his holoform before driving back the way they came. He would bide his time. He would deal with Abbie. But he wasn't going back to Alice, not until he had Kristen. Her innocence was intoxicating and he didn't know who would be overridden, Kristen or Abbie. He wouldn't risk it, even if he was praying that Kristen would be allowed to exist forever. He grinned.

Maybe a lifetime with Kristen wouldn't be so bad…

* * *

And so ends this chapter. I think this story will be ending soon...just because. But anyways, please review!


	9. Dead Line

Who would've ever thought college could be so time consuming? I'm trying to manage though. Updates aren't going to be quick from now until December 16. I know that's a long time, but I PROMISE I will update whenever I get the chance. Stay tuned to my profile though, I'll update you on my life as much as possible. Anyways, until I update again, here's this chapter to enjoy. I finally thought of an ending for this story, so, it'll be ending soon...maybe XD

* * *

**9. Dead Line**

He thought about her on her knees before him. He thought about her body pinned beneath his, writhing against his. Barricade sighed heavily, knowing that he was torturing himself. If he wanted Kristen, he knew he could just take her. He was a Decepticon; he didn't have to ask for anything, whatever he wanted he was free to take. But there was something inside of his spark that told him otherwise…something that told him she was worth waiting for, and it pissed him off.

They had arrived back to Princeton, New Jersey about an hour ago and now he was just patrolling the streets, Kristen sitting quietly in his passenger seat. Barricade dared to steal a glance at her and saw she was staring intently out of his windshield, more than likely lost in her own thoughts.

"Why do you want to have sex with me?" she asked suddenly, startling him.

"Why?" he repeated. He didn't rightly know.

"I mean, I thought you hated me," she said.

"You've never done anything to me…I really have no reason to hate you," he replied as he thought about it.

"What happens after I become a transformer?"

"You'll probably be my charge for a while, that is until you know the ways of the Decepticons," he explained.

"Am I that tempting?" she asked after a moment.

"Kristen…you started it, I'm going to finish it."

"You're a Decepticon though, why haven't you just taken me?"

"Is that what you _want_ me to do?" he demanded angrily.

She didn't say anything as she peeled her eyes away from his windshield to stare daggers into his dashboard. The obvious answer was no. Barricade growled as he looked away from her. Femmes were impossible to figure out sometimes and he certainly didn't want to be sentimental about this.

He didn't really feel like driving around anymore, so he pulled over in an alleyway before parking. Kristen sighed as she stretched out before relaxing into his seat.

He grit his teeth together. That's what it was, all her damn pesky movements. The way she talked, the way she smelled, the way she looked, her tantalizing personality, her sweet, sweet innocence, the way she tasted…it drove him crazy. He just wanted more and more. This was so much worse than lust.

"Barricade?"

He hesitated before replying, "Yes?"

"Are you one of those guys that are just looking to get with every woman that comes their way or do you want me because I mean something to you?"

He didn't immediately reply, which caused Kristen to sigh and frown. She looked to him before saying, "During the drive back…it occurred to me that you're going to probably be the only Decepticon I ever get to know…"

Barricade looked to her, hope rekindled. "If you're afraid…" he said, "I'm not going to lie, it's going to hurt, but I'm not doing it for my own personal satisfaction."

"Then why?"

"There's something deep within my own spark that draws me to you, I don't know what it is but it's so hard to resist."

"Lust?" she asked scornfully.

"No," he growled, chidingly, "I _know_ what lust is and whatever I'm feeling for you now is not…" He stopped as the realization came to not only him, but to Kristen as well. He watched as her eyes went wide in shock and quickly looked away. Why, out of all the transformers that existed in the universe, did it have to be _her_ that he liked? His body was reacting in the only way that it knew how.

"I-I think I'm going to go for a walk," Kristen said, "Are you going to stay here?"

"I won't be going anywhere, but keep your walk short, 30 minutes, no longer. Do you have a cellphone?" he asked.

Kristen proceeded to take her phone out of her pocket. Barricade took it from her and she watched as he added a number to her contacts. When he handed her phone back, she looked and saw a number saved under Cade. She looked to him before asking, "What's this?"

"If anything should happen, call that number, it's a direct patch to my comm.," he said, "If you're not back in 30 minutes, I'll call you." But he didn't explain how he had the ability to hack into the phone in order to discover where she was located. He just didn't want Abbie to know about that feature, especially if she tried running away again. For the first time, he felt like he had the upper hand on her.

Kristen just looked back to him before opening the door and getting out. "See you in 30 minutes then," she said before closing the door and walking away.

Barricade wasn't so sure why he suddenly felt uneasy about this.

* * *

Kristen felt like she was stumbling rather than walking. She wasn't sure what to think or how to feel in reaction to Barricade's sudden revelation. Despite it all, she still doubted he loved her. They had only known each other a few days. And while she did sense a mild attraction between them, it hurt to move on so quickly, especially after what happened with her fiancé. Even though she was never meant to be with Lee, it still felt like he was a part of her. Though his life had passed, it felt like his soul was still sewn inside of hers.

And Barricade…

He was slowly ripping Lee's soul from hers by every seam, every stitch, and replacing it with his own. Kristen wanted to let go of Lee so that the memories of him may rest in peace, but she didn't know if she was ready for someone such as Barricade. She barely knew him and yet he was already trying to get under her skin.

The worst part was she wanted to give into him. She wanted to forget life as she knew it and just melt inside of him, to let him take her away. Abbie had reached out to him for a reason…and maybe, though she highly doubted it, that reason was her.

A sudden noise behind her snapped her from her thoughts as she turned to see what was going on. She felt fear bubble up within her core when she saw a man standing there staring back at her. Instinctively, she reached for her phone.

"Hey there," he said to her nervously, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just thought you were someone else."

Kristen looked him over before asking, "What's your name?"

"L-Leo…you look just like another girl on campus. You wouldn't happen to have a sister named Alice would you?"

"What?" Kristen asked surprised.

He laughed nervously, "It's probably just a freaky resemblance—

"I should go…" she said quickly as she turned and walked away.

"W-Wait!" Leo shouted before grabbing her arm, "Maybe you want to hang out? My roommate won't mind…Sam's just a freak anyway." He forced a laugh.

"Sam?" she asked.

"Sam Witwicky or something like that—

"I need to go, my boyfriend is waiting…"

"Oh, um…sorry to keep you," he said as he quickly walked away.

Kristen didn't watch him leave as she hastily went back to Barricade. She tried to act like nothing strange happened as she got back inside of the patrol car as casually as possible. However, her calm façade was destroyed when Barricade mused, "I watched your movement on my GPS locator…why'd you stop then hurry back?"

"I bumped into someone."

"Who?" he demanded as he looked to her.

She felt he was trying to rip her apart and she wanted to melt inside his seat in order to hide from him. "He said his name was Leo," she answered.

"Did he try anything?" he asked, trying to keep his voice emotionless.

"He…said he was exploring the town since he goes to Princeton University. He said I looked a lot like a girl he new named Alice. He asked if we were sisters…" she stopped.

"What did you say?" he growled.

"I told him I had to go," she said, "And he invited me back to his dorm with him, he said I'd have to excuse his roommate, Sam."

"Sam Witwicky?" his voice was becoming venomous.

"Y-Yes…"

He sighed heavily. There wasn't much he could do considering Kristen had acted appropriately by not revealing anything and coming straight back to him. But it meant that Alice wasn't being very subtle. Though Leo probably had no idea Alice was an alien robot, the fact she was intermingling with humans like this just made him very nervous.

"I'm contacting her tonight," he said, "The sooner we get that program lock destroyed and get out of here…the better."

Kristen felt panic suddenly grab her by the throat, "Who's being overridden?"

"Abbie."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"I promise, you won't feel anything."

* * *

"Lennox, sir, we were able to get Kristen's phone number from his contact list on his phone. We ran a trace and she's in Princeton, New Jersey," a soldier reported.

"Princeton?" Lennox asked, "Does she have any business being there?"

"According to the school records at Princeton University, she is not enrolled in their curriculum, nor has she ever applied to go to school there. She does not have a job there—

"So why would she go there of all places?"

"Sam Witwicky's name did pop up in their enrollment…"

"Something just got really fishy," Lennox said as he left the room to go consult his findings with Optimus.

When he got to the Autobot hangar, Optimus was talking something over with Ironhide. He looked up when he saw Lennox come in and immediately didn't trust the look on the soldier's face. "Lennox," he said, acknowledging his presence.

"We've found where Kristen is," Lennox said, "Any ideas as to why she would suddenly appear in the same town that Sam is in?"

"We'll send Bumblebee to the area immediately to scout it out," Optimus replied, "If he should happen to find her, we'll bring her in and find out what's going on."

Lennox nodded, knowing that was all anybody could do at this point in time.

* * *

"You're going to kill Abbie if I am…overridden?"

"Yes," he said, "It's you or nothing."

Kristen felt touched even though he had not meant the words in the way she had interpreted them. She hesitantly reached out and placed a hand on his thigh. He looked down at her hand, unsure of what to do.

"Before you call Alice…" she said quietly, slowly.

Barricade looked to her, his dark eyes meeting hers as he remembered how the octane tasted on her lips.

"You can…" but she didn't finish as he crushed his lips against hers.

They ended up tumbling into the backseat, Barricade fumbling at the buttons and zippers of her clothes until he finally stripped her naked. She shuddered as his cold fingertips brushed over her exposed flesh as he pinned her to the backseat the best he could. He teased at her nipples with his tongue as his hand traced and invisible line down her torso. She gasped when she felt him slip his fingers between her legs and inside of her as he gruffly fingered her.

"Barricade," she groaned, surprised by the pain, "Can you be a little…nnnhh…gentler?"

His lips curled into a wicked smile. "Kristen," he breathed, his teeth nipping her neck, "I told you it was going to hurt."

She listened as he unzipped his pants and felt as he pulled himself out. He leaned forward and kissed her as she felt his erection press into her stomach. She held her breath as he slid his hand back up her torso and slowly inserted himself inside of her. She grimaced as he moaned in pleasure.

Her muscles had clamped right around him, and oh did he love the feeling of how much she had stretched to accommodate him. "Relax," he purred with a dark chuckle in his throat, "It doesn't hurt much more than this."

She felt tears in her eyes as he held her close to him. He kissed her again as he waited for her to relax a bit. When he felt her muscles loosen a little, he slowly began to thrust himself in and out of her. She cried out in pain a bit since she was not quite ready, but Barricade didn't stop. He growled as he felt her dig her fingers into his seat, feeling that as well as the pleasure his holoform was taking in.

"Barricade," she moaned as the pain slowly melted into pleasure.

"Don't…hold back," he breathed.

She accepted his lips as he kissed her again, increasing his pace as he did so. Kristen could feel his form vibrating gently, his whole body receiving pleasure and not just his holoform. She could hear his engine lightly rumbling outside.

"Do you…love me?" he asked as he felt his climax near.

"Mmm," she moaned, caught in her own sexual daze, "Yes…"

He thrust harder inside of her; he could feel her body trembling and knew she was close. "Tell me you love me…"

"I…love you…" she moaned before she came, unable to hold back her climax any longer.

He grunted as he came as well, the tail ends of her climax triggering his. When it was over, he got off of her and sat beside her as she sat up. They were both breathing hard and just quiet for a while. Finally, Kristen quietly said, "Abbie is going to be pissed."

Barricade grinned as he pulled her against him, "I'll let her be pissed. Get dressed before you fall asleep. The last thing I want is her running around naked."

Kristen obeyed and got dressed before she sat back down beside him. He held her against him as she began to fall asleep. She was surprised though when he suddenly pulled her arms behind her back and handcuffed her. "Barricade," she mumbled tiredly, "What are you doing?"

"Subduing Abbie before she wakes up," he said, "Sorry, Kristen."

He kissed her forehead lightly. She was vaguely aware of the seatbelts suddenly fastening around her tightly, like ropes, and restraining her against the backseat before she drifted off into darkness.

Barricade deactivated his holoform when he heard her breathing stop. He sighed, getting ready to deal with Abbie's onslaught, but to his surprise, it didn't immediately come like it had the previous nights. Enjoying the unexpected peace, the Decepticon tracker became lost in his own thoughts as he tried to drift off into the realms of sleep. Mostly, he thought about if Kristen had really meant what she said when she told him she loved him.

He didn't know why, but he kind of hoped she did. He sighed tiredly and happily as his systems began to shut down, recharge imminent.

"So, was she a good fuck?"

_Frag…_

Barricade grumbled as he brought his systems back online. "Better than you could ever be," he replied, just to anger her more, "Why don't you shut up and let me recharge?"

"You're going to erase me. I don't have to be nice to you."

She did have a point there…

"I can contact Alice and have her eliminate you now, if you wish."

"Why do you hate me so?"

"You need for control is your weakness. I have a feeling that if you never get what you want, you'll be a threat to not only the Autobots, but the Decepticons as well. You've only caused more harm than good since I've met you. Kristen's just an innocent bystander in all of this."

"Since when do you care about the innocent? What kind of Decepticon are you, Barricade?"

He growled as he felt anger explode through his circuitry. He knew she was right, but she was completely wrong at the same time. He only cared about Kristen. And her innocence in all of this was what made him want her all the more. He wanted to be the one to corrupt her, violate her, to take her innocence and mold it into sin.

"You'll never get the chance to know," he said.

* * *

Barricade barely registered when the sun suddenly rose above the horizon, much sooner than what he wanted it to. He managed to slip in a few hours of recharge between Abbie's rants, but it still wasn't enough. When Kristen awoke, he planned on recharging some more, just because he knew that she would be quiet. He would let her roam around town while he found a place to sleep. She would be alright, so long as she called him if anything happened. He managed to slip in another hour or so of sleep before he felt her stir, waking him up.

"Barricade," she breathed, beautifully.

He activated his holoform as he released the seatbelts from her body. She slumped forward a little bit before regaining her posture. He removed the handcuffs from her wrists. "Morning," he breathed, relaxing beside her.

"I am sorry about Abbie," she said quietly.

He smiled, "I'll catch up on my recharge this morning. You may do as you wish while I do so. However, if you do leave, make sure you call me if _anything_ happens."

She nodded as she scooted towards the door. "I think I'll walk around a bit," she said.

He opened the door for her, but before she could move to get out, he pulled her close to him and kissed her briefly before releasing her. She looked at him momentarily, remembering everything that had happened between them the day before…only hours ago. He caught her lingering gaze, causing her to blush before she got out of him. He watched as she shut his door and walked away. Too tired to do much more, he deactivated his holoform and slipped back into recharge.

* * *

Bumblebee was surprised when he saw a girl that matched the photo he had been given of Kristen Hise. He was even more surprised that she was walking around aimlessly, alone. Curious, he secretly followed her for a couple blocks, but he soon realized that she wasn't heading anywhere in particular. When she started walking down a deserted alleyway, that's when he pulled up beside her, surprising her.

He opened his door, and when she saw there was no one inside him, she took a wary step back. "Who…Who are you?" she asked.

"Bumblebee," his radio answered, "I come in peace."

She hesitated before asking, "What do you want?"

"Take a seat…and…we'll have a little heart to heart."

She grabbed the cellphone that was in her pocket. "I'm not—

Bumblebee surprised her by suddenly transforming, grabbing her, and transforming back into his vehicle form. When his body stopped shifting, she realized she was trapped inside of him. He sped off before she could start thinking of how to escape.

Swallowing hard, she pulled out her phone and dialed Barricade's number.

"Barricade," she breathed.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"Bumblebee…he's got me."

And the line went dead.

* * *

And so ends this chapter...please review!


	10. Straight to the Hive

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! I want to thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing this chapter, it means a lot to me. Here's the next!

* * *

**10. Straight to the Hive**

Kristen nearly jumped out of her skin when a seatbelt came out of nowhere and knocked her cellphone out of her hand and onto the floor. She went to reach for it when the same seatbelt fastened so tightly around her she could barely move.

"I see you're conspiring…with…the devil," Bumblebee's radio cackled.

"It wasn't my choice!" she blurted out, and then she wondered if it was better to maintain her silence.

"Sounds like you've got a story to tell."

Kristen couldn't even begin to guess what was going to happen. She knew little to nothing about the Autobots, but since Barricade said that he was one of the bad guys, she figured they wouldn't kill her. But if she were associating with a Decepticon, that didn't mean she was free from guilt or punishment either. And if they found out that Abbie murdered Lee, then it definitely wouldn't be good, especially if they didn't believe her about Abbie's existence.

Perhaps revealing the truth would be the only thing that could save her…but she didn't want to betray Barricade. Maybe there were certain things she could say without revealing much about what the Decepticon's intentions were.

"I'll—I'll tell you everything," she said, "But you _have_ to understand that I never wanted to go along with what Abbie wanted and Barricade is innocent in all of this."

He laughed, "Barricade…_innocent_?"

"Don't laugh at me!" she yelled, but immediately slapped a hand over her mouth when she heard _two_ voices come out her mouth. The other one was slightly deeper and sounded demonic. She knew it was Abbie.

Bumblebee immediately stopped laughing when he heard both voices emit from her. "We'll talk about this back at headquarters," his radio said.

But that didn't stop tendrils of panic from tightly gripping Kristen's heart. She was going to tell the truth, that was a given, but the outcomes felt infinite. They could believe her and try to help her, they may not believe her and punish her and she would be doomed to suffer with Abbie, or they could believe her and just offline her for being too much of a threat.

She wondered if it was a violation of the Decepticon code of conduct if Barricade, by the slightest chance, tried to rescue her. However, one could always hope…

* * *

Barricade revved his engine, frustrated. He had less than two seconds to figure out his next course of action. He could either pursue Bumblebee, or he could let Kristen and Abbie become the Autobots problem. If he pursued, then he more than likely would have a confrontation with the Autobots. If he didn't pursue, he risked valuable information being leaked to the Autobots. He growled as he tapped into Kristen's phone to locate where Bumblebee was travelling before he raced after them.

He _couldn't_ lose Kristen, he _wouldn't_ lose her. Though he still refused to admit it, he didn't want to let her go. Somewhere in the last few days, he managed to develop feelings that undoubtedly convinced him that he at least _desired_ Kristen. When he got her back, and it wasn't a question of if, he was definitely getting her back, she owed him her life.

* * *

Kristen felt her heart leap inside her chest when she heard police sirens blare behind them and saw the familiar red, white, and blue flashing lights reflect off Bumblebee's rearview mirror. He had her bound so tightly that she couldn't move to look behind them and judge just how far away Barricade was or see what the Decepticon was doing. Either way, she was elated that he was coming after her, even if were only to keep the Decepticon secrets safe.

Bumblebee veered to the left suddenly, racing down a narrow road in an effort to lose the 'Con that was trailing him. However, Barricade was quick to catch up and he pulled up alongside the Autobot and attempted to push him off the road. Kristen felt the seatbelts that were on her loosen as Bumblebee focused less on her and concentrated more on staying on the road and escaping Barricade.

After the chase continued on for a few more long minutes, Bumblebee managed to get quite a distance on Barricade before he suddenly pulled into a narrow alleyway and cut the lights as well as his engine. He was hoping he had finally given Barricade the slip. Kristen felt that the seatbelts were substantially looser around her, but she wouldn't do anything to remind the Autobot that in a flash, she could wiggle her way free and somehow pry the door open…

She jumped, startled, when Bumblebee's engine roared back to life. She looked up only to see that Barricade had found them in the alleyway and was in the process of rushing towards them. She involuntarily yelped when Bumblebee suddenly sped in reverse to the opposite entrance of the alleyway and backed out into the street before switching to drive and racing forward, but Barricade was close behind him.

Bumblebee ended up turning onto a highway and Barricade pulled along beside him. Kristen watched out of the corner of her eye as Barricade moved dangerously close and when he bumped them, she clicked off the seatbelt that was around her at the same time as the impact. Bumblebee didn't seem to notice as the seatbelt didn't go back around her and instead he tried to maintain control. Slowly, she reached over towards the door, and when Barricade hit them again, she unlocked it at the same time.

Kristen watched deadly quiet as Barricade fell back behind Bumblebee to let a couple cars pass in the oncoming lane. When they were by, she peeked out of the windshield only to notice that they had entered a flat stretch of highway and she could see for miles. She could also see that nobody was coming. Seizing the opportunity, she yanked the door open, only to have it almost slam shut on her from the force of the wind since Bumblebee was driving so quickly. However, she managed to keep it open and balance between the Autobot's chassis and door, that way if he tried to close it, he would only shut her in it and wouldn't be able to close the door until she moved.

Barricade noticed her almost immediately and pulled up alongside her. She watched as his passenger door opened and his holoform suddenly materialized in the front passenger seat. "Grab my hand!" he yelled as he reached out his hand towards her.

She reached towards him, trying to reach his hand. Their fingers just grazed one another when Bumblebee suddenly lurched away from Barricade, causing Kristen to nearly lose her balance and fall out of the car. She looked down, watching as the road raced by beneath her. She swallowed hard knowing that with one wrong move, she would fall and it would more than likely be the end of her. "Barricade!" she shouted.

He moved closer and she managed to catch his hand with hers. He grasped it firmly and looked up at her, catching her gaze. The look in her eyes held a mixture of desperation and relief, but oh could he ever tell that she was happy to see him. It was beautiful.

"Jump!" he yelled, "I won't let you fall."

Kristen watched as he tried to pull closer, but he couldn't since the doors were in the way. She looked to him, knowing that she only had one chance to get this right or else it would be the end of everything. "Trust me, Kristen!" he shouted again, "Come on, there's a car coming!"

She looked up the road and indeed saw the car coming towards them. Kristen tried to hold back her thoughts and bite back her fear as she went to jump. Before she could though, Bumblebee's seatbelt locked around her ankles, causing her to stumble backwards and lose her grip with Barricade. She could've cried when she fell back into his backseat, the door closing and locking before she had a chance to sit up. Kristen sat up just in time to witness Barricade swerve off the road in order to avoid hitting the other car.

With a sinking feeling, she realized he wouldn't be able to rescue her.

"Just think," Bumblebee's radio suddenly chimed as she look out the window, watching as a huge cloud of dust went up where Barricade went off the road, "That could've been you."

* * *

By the time they ended up arriving at the location the Autobot's dubbed their headquarters, Kristen felt sick with worry. It was late at night, but she didn't dare sleep, no matter how tired she was, for fear of what Abbie may do. She tried to fight back her nervousness as she was yanked from the inside of the vehicle and dragged inside a military base. It felt like she was inside a movie when they brought her before a military officer and a couple of his subordinates. She looked around the room, seeing other transformers inside. One was black and had large guns, the other was blue with red flames, the third was mostly a green color, and of course, there was Bumblebee. Apparently it wasn't too late at night to question her.

With tired eyes, she looked to officer, who said, "We sent Bumblebee to locate you, little did we know he would find you so quickly."

"What do you want?" she asked.

"We want to know what happened to Lee and just what your connection is to the Decepticons," he replied.

Kristen read his name badge and saw it said Lennox on it. "What do you know?" she asked, looking over to the 'Bot with the cannons nervously before refocusing her gaze on Lennox.

"Are you a pretender?"

She swallowed. That was the vital information that she did not want the Autobots to obtain. However, it appeared they already knew it. There was no point in lying or hiding pieces of the truth. Kristen sighed heavily before admitting, "About a week ago a police officer showed up at my house to tell me that my name had been flagged in a terrorist group—

"Yes, Lee told us about that. You had mentioned the Decepticons, as well as the names The Fallen, Soundwave, and Megatron. We had sent him to go get you so that we could figure out what was going on, but he turned up dead. Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Did Barricade kill him?"

"No."

"So who did?"

"Abbie did," she answered.

"From my understanding," Lennox said, "Your first name is Abigail, but you go by your middle name, Kristen. Wouldn't that make _you_ Abbie?"

"We are two people living in the same body. My parents adopted me after I was found wandering the streets naked a couple years ago. I have no memories of who I am or where I came from, or my life prior to this one. I have cut myself open and know for a fact that I am not a human. From what Barricade has told me, I—Abbie is a pretender. However, after she was created, her creators realized that her desire for control was far too dangerous for her to be a regular Decepticon. Instead of having their creation go to waste though, they locked her inside the alternative mode of a human and created a program lock to hide her behind so that she would appear as a normal human. That program lock is me, Kristen. Abbie knows what they did though, she wants to be freed and have me erased forever so that she can go on with her chaotic campaign for control over everything."

"How did she contact Barricade then?"

Kristen sighed, unable to tell if she had convinced Lennox or if he was just playing along until he could find some sort of crack in her story and expand upon it. She said, "I'm a chronic sleepwalker. When I sleep, Abbie comes to life. She hacked into my laptop and used it to access some sort of Decepticon communication network where she managed to contact Barricade, the Decepticon closest to her and the most likely to help her. In all of this, he has not harmed anyone and he has only served to protect me as well as the secrets of the Decepticons."

"And how is he protecting you?"

"He is trying to get me to Alice, another pretender in the Decepticon army as well as Abbie's sister, and he is trying to get her to permanently erase Abbie."

"It seems like it would be the other way around," the black Autobot mused.

"Ironhide," the Autobot with the flames said, "Let her finish."

"I've spent a few days with Barricade and he's witnessed Abbie's domineering nature firsthand. He hates her and would like nothing more than to see her destroyed."

"I believe she speaks the truth," Bumblebee's radio suddenly cackled, "On the way here…two…voices…erupted from her mouth."

"Lennox, I believe you should let us handle this situation from here," the robot with flames spoke again.

"If you feel that would be the best, Optimus," Lennox spoke, "She's all yours."

Kristen felt slightly relieved when the guards let her go and Lennox and his subordinates proceeded to leave before she looked back to the transformers. She was at their mercy now.

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots," the transformer with the flames said, introducing himself, "This is Ironhide and Ratchet. You've already met Bumblebee."

"What are your plans for me?" Kristen asked. She could feel her exhaustion catching up to her.

"Ratchet, do you think you can solve Kristen's dilemma?" Optimus asked, turning to his subordinate.

"I think so. I'll extract Abbie's datacore and CNA files from Kristen them and transfer them to a protoform, even though she'll be alive, we'll restrain her so that way we can talk to her and find out her story."

Kristen felt relieved, but she wasn't sure if the relief was emanating from her own emotions or from Abbie. "How long should it take?" Kristen asked.

"I'll start first thing in the morning," the medic replied.

Her hopes sank. "The morning?" she remarked.

"Something wrong with that?" Ironhide asked in a voice more menacing than what it needed to be.

"Abbie comes out when I sleep."

"And how does Barricade handle Abbie?" Ratchet asked.

"He has to restrain her until I wake up."

The Autobots exchanged glances and seemed to be mutually agreeing something, even though no words were spoken. "Come with me," Ratchet said.

Reluctantly, Kristen followed Ratchet a short distance to another room that seemed like a laboratory. He lifted her onto a giant bed and instructed her to lie down, which she did, despite the awkwardness of it all. He proceeded to restrain her to the bed saying, "This is probably for your own good, as well as Abbie's. Go to sleep."

Not sure what was going to happen, Kristen closed her eyes in an effort to let sleep overtake her. She tried to drown out her thoughts about what would happen, she tried to squish away her severe worry for Barricade and what had become of him, and she tried to relax. After a few minutes, she could feel herself calming down and it wasn't long before she fell prisoner to sleep.

Ratchet monitored her condition, noticing immediately that her breathing had stopped. For a moment, he wondered if Kristen for some inexplicable reason had suddenly passed, but when her eyes suddenly fluttered back open, glossy and dazed, he knew that she was quite alive.

"Where am I?" asked a voice a couple pitches lower than the voice Kristen had been using.

Ratchet didn't say anything, and instead, stepped forward, making his presence known. The girl saw him and immediately smiled. "Ah, Ratchet," she said, "I must be in the Autobot base then. How unfitting."

"Abbie?" he asked quizzically.

"Kristen must have told you about me. Tell me, how did Barricade slip up this time in order to let me fall into Autobot hands?"

"I don't know, Bumblebee hasn't debriefed us yet."

"What are your intentions for me?"

"Depends, we have yet to see who you really are."

"You don't want to get to know me, I assure you. You know your friend, Jazz? Remember what Megatron did to him? I could do that to you."

Ratchet growled, knowing that Kristen did not know of Jazz or about how Megatron killed him. Barricade would not have told her about it, he would have no reason to. And she wouldn't have asked because she wouldn't have any reason to either. In that moment, he knew that Kristen was telling the truth. That was all he had wanted to know. He would perform the transfer after he got a few cycles of recharge.

He heard Abbie laugh as he left the room.

* * *

He knew exactly where the Autobot headquarters were.

Barricade knew the information was invaluable. After he had driven off the road, he transformed into his robot form in order to prevent from flipping over countless times when he was in his vehicle mode. He managed to escape without injury and follow Bumblebee straight to his hive. Bumblebee must not have realized that he had been able to use Kristen's phone to track him all the way back, but he was thankful for the scout's carelessness. He wasn't sure what the Autobots had planned for Kristen, but he knew an attempt to rescue her would be suicide. There was no way he could break in to free her and he doubted that they would let her go. He was still uncertain if they would offline her or not.

He still wanted her back. She still owed him. She was still his. Prior to meeting her, Barricade never believed that a single femme was worth a lifetime of trouble. He was beginning to believe that Kristen was. He still wanted to see this through to the end, he wanted Abbie destroyed, he wanted to see Kristen as a transformer, so that he may have her in her true form as many times as he pleased. He growled.

This was far from over.

* * *

Until the next chapter, please review! And, have a Happy New Year!


	11. Nightmare Come True

So, I'm thinking the next chapter will be the last chapter of this story, but we'll see how that goes. After this story is finished, I'll be posting a few new stories. I think you guys will appreciate the change. Anyways, here's this chapter, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**11. Nightmare Come True**

Kristen had half hoped that when she woke up the next morning that the nightmare would have been over. She had hoped that when she opened her eyes, Lee would have been there telling her that everything had just been a bad dream. If she couldn't have that, she wanted to wake up to realize that she was still with Barricade and that it was _only_ her with Barricade. And if she couldn't have that either, then she wanted to wake up and realize that Abbie had been removed from her body, but that wasn't true either. Instead, everything was the same as it ever was except she was still at the mercy of the Autobots.

Someday, this all had to end.

"Good morning," the Autobot medic said as he looked down at her.

"Uh…morning," she breathed tiredly, "I hope that Abbie wasn't too much trouble."

"She wasn't anything a few restraints couldn't handle," Ratchet replied before pressing a button that caused the restraints to pop off of Kristen's wrists and ankles.

"So," Kristen mused as she watched the medic work for a minute, "Are you going to be able to get Abbie out of my body without anything happening to me?"

"More than likely," he responded, "If you had let Alice do it, then the margin of error would have been much greater."

"What's your margin of error?"

"The chances of something going wrong are 10%. You don't have anything to worry about, Kristen," he explained, "I'm finishing the preparations that need to be made on the protoform, then after that I should be ready to do the extraction."

"How long will that take?"

"The preparations? Probably another five minutes or so. The extraction itself may take a few hours. You'll be unconscious throughout the entire process though, so you won't feel anything. The only change you may feel is when you wake up and realize Abbie is no longer there."

It sounded too good to be true. However, there were still questions that Kristen had. "How come you're keeping Abbie alive?" she asked.

"To question her and see if we can find out exactly who she is. If she is a threat, then we can terminate her or lock her up, whichever is most appropriate."

"And what happens to me after this?"

"You sure are full of questions," Ratchet mused before answering, "You'll probably be in our custody. Come, the preparations are complete. The sooner we get this started, the better."

Kristen followed the directions that the medic proceeded to give her and she lay back down on the table. He then began hooking wires to her. He hooked them around her skull and a couple on her chest before he hooked the same wires to the protoform. These wires were also hooked up to a computer that Ratchet had control over. Kristen watched as he walked over to it and pressed a few buttons. She heard a faint humming noise, indicating that the transfer had begun. She looked to Ratchet who looked to her and gave her a thumbs up. It was the last thing she saw before blacking out.

* * *

It was her head that hurt the most when she woke up.

Kristen felt light headed, but at the same time, her body felt like it weighed a million pounds. She let her eyes flicker open only to notice everything seemed smaller. She figured it was a side effect of the extraction and looked over to see the protoform had morphed into the shape of a female transformer. As she looked it over, she realized that the femme wasn't that attractive. She was built more to fight than she was to look appeasing to the eye.

"Hey Ratchet, is she completely out of me?" Kristen asked only to notice that her voice sounded a little different. It sounded like it had a ring to it.

"Yes she is," Ratchet said as he looked to where Kristen was laying, "However, something happened to you that I overlooked."

Kristen felt panic surge through her body like a wave. "What happened?" she asked worriedly.

"Nothing serious or life threatening, if that's what you're concerned about," he replied, "Just take a look at yourself. You've changed."

Hesitantly, Kristen sat up and looked down over her body only to notice that she had indeed changed, drastically. A gasp escaped her throat as the realization sunk in. Somehow while Ratchet was performing the extraction, the program lock had been overridden and Kristen had assumed Abbie's body, her _real_ body, and she looked nothing like the Abbie that was lying restrained on the table beside hers. She figured the body the protoform morphed into was more of a reflection of Abbie's personality than this one. Kristen wondered if this body was more of a manifestation of herself.

She was a soft shade of silver with black and deep blue accents. But unlike the majority of the Autobots who had blue optics, hers were as red as could be. "You don't have a vehicle form yet," she heard Ratchet explain, "But we can help you choose one. Then you may be trained to fight against the Decepticons if you wish."

Kristen had stopped listening to him, her mind was full of other thoughts and her heart was full of other desires. Now that Abbie was out of her and strapped to a table in the Autobots base, she was now the Autobots problem and no longer hers. More than anything, she wanted to leave the Autobot base and just run into Barricade's arms. She wanted to show him what she had become; she knew he would be proud, she knew he would be happy that Abbie was gone.

But, she had no idea where he was or if he was even okay. She didn't even know if she would ever see him again, even though she hoped with every fiber of her being that she would somehow get tangled up in his mad and violent ways again.

* * *

Barricade made sure he stayed a safe distance from the Autobot headquarters in order to prevent being detected. However, he did not plan on leaving soon. He was still trying to devise a way to at least communicate with Kristen and find out what was going on. He half believed that Abbie would end up causing a scene, which would lead to Kristen becoming freed. If that happened, he wanted to be ready to obtain her and take her back to Alice so that Alice could terminate Abbie. Then, Kristen would be all his for the taking.

The Decepticon tracker made a hissing noise as he relaxed his chassis down onto his tires as he sat in his vehicle form. He hated to admit it, but he knew that if he didn't feel this way about Kristen, he would not be waiting for her like he was now. Barricade knew that he could end up waiting forever for something that would never happened, but he was almost willing to. Something deep down inside him made him believe with every fiber and inkling in his body that Kristen was so worth it.

Even in her human disguise she had been so delicious, her body perfectly complimenting his holoform. He couldn't even begin to imagine what she looked like as a transformer or if she would compliment him then. But if she tasted so good as a human, if she made the perfect sounds and movements now, as a transformer…the thought made him shudder.

If _only_ he could somehow contact her.

* * *

Kristen requested that she wasn't around when Abbie woke up. She did not want to actually meet the person that she used to share a body with. Sharing the same body had been enough, but to actually have to speak with her and put up with her, she had a feeling that it would just be too much. To her dismay, there was no other place for her to go, and she was stuck waiting in the med bay until she could gain clearance to walk around the NEST base freely. Since nobody knew if they could trust her, the clearance probably wasn't going to come anytime soon, and when it did, it was more than likely she would be assigned a guard until she could be trusted.

She sighed heavily, deciding to relax while she could. She lay back on the berth, trying to think of a way to contact Barricade. She let her optics go offline, thinking. Kristen remembered that she had dropped her phone on the floor inside of Bumblebee when he had kidnapped her more or less and brought her here. She had used her phone to contact Barricade to let him know what happened. She wondered if she could somehow get her phone back and look up the number that the Decepticon had typed into it. But, it was probably best not to ask, she knew it would draw suspicion.

"Kristen," Ratchet said, "I'm stepping out for a minute. If Abbie should wake up, just try to ignore her. I'll be back in a bit."

"Alright," she agreed. It was a few minutes after Ratchet left that she was about to fall asleep when a noise next to her startled her. She looked over only to see that Abbie was online, her crimson optics staring daggers into her soul it felt like.

"Y-You're awake," she stammered.

Abbie made as if she rolled her optics. "Please," she said, "It's not that surprising. Why don't you be the good little girl you _always_ are and get these restraints off of me?"

Kristen sat up, looking away from her before saying, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"And why not?"

"I don't know what you'll do."

"Come on Kristen, you _owe _me. You got away with your life when you shouldn't have."

"I let you live inside of me, that's pay back enough."

Abbie growled, "_No_. That was _my_ body until you were created to hide who I really was. I got the real me back and your own persona was created in the process."

"You're too dangerous to let go, Abbie."

"So you'll let _them_, the Autobots, offline me after all they've done to ensure my creation?" she persisted, "We could've been friends, Kristen. We could still be friends."

Kristen realized that Abbie wasn't going to stop until she got what she wanted. God, she hoped that Ratchet would be coming back soon. It wasn't fair that she had to put up with this, but maybe it was some kind of test. She wouldn't be happy if she found out the Autobots were secretly watching what was happening inside of the room in order to see if she were trustworthy or not. She had already made up her mind even before she had been brought here; she only wanted to be with Barricade. If that meant being a Decepticon, then so be it.

"If you truly wanted to be friends, you would've cared about my wellbeing. I haven't seen you do that once," Kristen protested.

Abbie's optics narrowed and she was silent for a few moments before she said, "Do you ever want to see Barricade again?"

Kristen's gaze went to the floor and she heard Abbie chuckle, knowing that she had found her weak spot. In a gentle voice she said, "I know how to contact him, Kristen. I can show you how to reach him if you let me go."

"I don't know…"

"Come on," she said, her voice even gentler now, "I know how he feels about you; I can see how you feel about him. You'll never see him again if you don't let me go."

"How do I know that you'll keep your end of the bargain?" Kristen asked.

"I promise. Let's have a fresh start between us, shall we? We could be great together. If you let me go, you can have everything you want; I know the only thing you want is _him_."

"You killed Lee, he, at one point in time, was the only one that I wanted."

"You could never be with an organic male and you know it. There is no point in putting this off; Ratchet will be back at any moment. Let me go and I'll help you find Barricade, then I'll be on my way. You know that I am your only escape."

There was something wicked in Abbie's optics that Kristen didn't trust. She had a feeling that if she let her go, it would be the end of everything. Abbie could be lying. If she let her go, she could just leave and the Autobots would never let her go then knowing she had freed Abbie. If she let Abbie go, she might kill her, and Kristen especially did not want that. There had to be another way to see Barricade.

She could ask to become an Autobot; she could ask to be trained to fight. Then, maybe one day, by chance, she would run into Barricade on the battlefield and he would remember everything. But even that sounded just as risky as listening to Abbie. If only she could remember that number he had saved in her phone…

Abbie was just about to say something else when the doors suddenly opened and Ratchet came back in. He noticed that Abbie was online almost immediately. "Ah, Abbie," he mused, "It's about time you finally woke up. We've got some questions for you."

"At least take the restraints off of me," Abbie said as she struggled against them.

Both Kristen and Abbie watched as Ratchet went to the door and summoned someone inside. Ironhide proceeded to enter and hold Abbie down while the medic removed her restraints. The weapons specialist then escorted her out of the room so that she could be questioned. Kristen sighed heavily before saying, "She almost manipulated me into letting her go."

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't," Ratchet said, "I don't think she is going to be online for very much longer. While we've done research and haven't been able to find anything on her, the very fact that her own creators, whom were Decepticons, tried to keep her from existing shows something. I fear she is nothing but a deadly weapon to both sides."

"Just as long as I never have to see her again…hey Ratchet?"

"Yes Kristen?"

"How long am I going to be stuck in here? I mean, this is your med bay, not a prison. I don't belong in here."

Ratchet studied her for a moment before asking, "Is it here in the med bay you feel you don't belong, or is it here in the Autobot base that you feel like you don't belong?"

Kristen didn't say anything, which caused the Autobot medic to sigh heavily before he went over to her and sat beside her on the berth where she was sitting. "Look, you told us yourself that you have been with Barricade the last week or so. I can understand if it is him that you trust and would like to go back to. We won't label you as a traitor if that is what you want, but we will warn you that it will not be an easy life if that is what you choose."

"You mean…you will let me have a choice in all of this?"

"We cannot tell you who to be, even if we may want you to be someone else."

"So you'll let me leave?" Kristen asked, looking to him with a hopeful expression on her face.

"That is Optimus' decision to make," he replied, "Although, I can't understand why you would want to go join back up with Barricade of all the transformers out there. He can be quite ruthless."

"But there's also another side to him that says something else," she mused and then quickly looked away from him to hide a blush.

"Oh," Ratchet said, "_Now_ I see why you want to go back to him. Well, you sure moved on from that human you were engaged to quite quickly."

Kristen couldn't explain it. Her and Barricade…they just somehow clicked in a way that Lee and she never had. She thought about that wild ride she went on yesterday where she was holding onto his hand so tightly, balancing herself between him and Bumblebee, balancing herself between life and death. She thought about the wild and excited look in his eyes, she thought about the pure elation she had felt when he came to rescue her. The evil villain, coming to her rescue. It was a nightmare come true. She smiled inwardly at the irony of it all.

She heard Ratchet sigh heavily before saying, "Sneak out, Kristen."

She looked to him confused, "What?"

"When I turn my back, slip out the door, then you run, take a left at the first hallway you come to, then a right at the next hallway and you don't stop running until you are well clear of this base. Do I make myself clear?"

"Ratchet…I can't do that, I don't even have a way of contacting—

He typed a series of numbers into her comlink suddenly, saying, "Bumblebee had them extracted from your phone just in case. When you are far away from here, contact him and tell him where you are." He then got up and started plugging in information on a computer in the room, his back to both her and the door. "Go Kristen," he said, "This is the only chance you will get. The others are busy dealing with Abbie. You won't get another opportunity like this." He didn't hear anything.

Ratchet looked back over his shoulder, but Kristen was already gone.

* * *

Kristen did exactly as the Autobot medic had told her to and when she felt she was a safe distance from the base, she collapsed to the ground, staring up at the night sky as she tried to let her systems cool. Running away had gone perfectly, even though she hadn't gone unnoticed. She felt like she had run for hours trying to escape the sound of alarms and the flashing of lights until they finally subsided into the far distance. When her panting finally subsided, she tuned her comlink to Barricade's frequency, more than ready to get out of the location that she was currently at. She only prayed that he would still be willing to get her as she whispered his name into the darkness.

* * *

Barricade was surprised when he suddenly heard Kristen's voice on his comlink. Unsure of what was going on he replied, "Barricade here, Kristen, what is going on?" He thought that maybe she had gotten her phone back.

"I managed to get free from the Autobots; do you think you could pinpoint the source of this transmission and trace it back to figure out where I am?"

The moment the word 'free' had escaped her mouth; he had done just that and was already speeding towards her location. He was eager to know what had happened, he was curious to know just how she managed to escape. "I'll be there in about an hour," he said, "Sit tight, Kristen. Don't let anyone see you."

"Thanks Barricade," she said.

He ended the transmission, his engine roaring as he raced off into the night. Oh how he loved it when Kristen breathed his name. Once again, she didn't disappoint him. Even though she was taken away by the Autobots, she managed to get away just as quickly as she was taken. He laughed as he sped well over the human speed limits. Kristen _thought_ she was free. She was only free until he got there. When he arrived…he smiled to himself.

Oh no, his sweet Kristen would _never_ be free.

* * *

Until the next chapter, please review!


	12. Welcoming the Dawn

Well, this is the last chapter of this story. I just cannot drag it out any longer right now, I have too many ideas for other stories in mind. Since Spring break is next week, I plan on uploading new stories soon. I was only able to update this because I've been very sick and had to go home. I'm better now though. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this.

* * *

**12. Welcoming the Dawn**

Kristen saw him coming long before she heard him. Barricade's flashing lights couldn't be missed. It took her a minute to figure out if it was really him, but considering it was the only police car racing towards her direction, she figured it couldn't be anyone else. She stood in her robot form eager to meet him. She wanted to know what he thought of her new form. She had a feeling that he would like it, but she couldn't be too sure. He had been desperate to see her in this form, but he was a Decepticon. There was no telling what pleased him.

However, when he pulled up and transformed, Kristen could tell he was surprised. She saw the wonder, the pleasure, the satisfaction glittering in his red optics. She smiled involuntarily. "Barricade," she said.

Oh, how he loved it when she said his name.

"I have some explaining to do."

The Decepticon tracker smiled. She did have _a lot_ of explaining to do. Barricade wanted to know just what happened to cause his delicious, sweet, and soft octane flavored Kristen to become a transformer. She looked just as sweet and delicious now, less fragile, but still capable of being broken. He didn't want to admire her. He wanted to pin her down, rip her open, feel her metal clashing against his. He wanted to force his soul inside of hers. He never wanted to let her go.

"Barricade?" she breathed, taking his hand in hers.

He shuddered at her touch, surprised by how smooth her armor was. He was aware he hadn't said anything; he was too busy concentrating on memorizing her form, trying to pinpoint the place on her body that would make her squirm the most. "Kristen," he finally said, his voice heavy with lust, "Is Abbie…?"

"Abbie is now the Autobots problem," she answered, "I fully expect them to offline her."

"They were able to separate her from you?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe they let you go."

"They didn't. Ratchet told me how to get away."

"Ratchet let you leave?" he asked, confused.

"I believe he pitied me, he knew that I didn't want to be there, he knew I would never become an Autobot."

"Where do you want to be?" he asked, his voice gruff as he lifted her hand to his mouth components, enjoying the way her armor felt against his mouth.

"With you."

He smirked before saying, "I don't think you understand the implications of that."

"I'll become a Decepticon if that's what it takes to—

"You're too _nice_ to be a Decepticon."

"Barricade…"

He kissed her fiercely. There was no need to be gentle when he was eager. She tasted even better now, as if her sweetness amplified from her human form to her transformer form. He loved the way she felt as he pulled her close to him, leaving no room for air between them. He wouldn't let her go. She couldn't go back to the Autobots, she would never be a Decepticon, but she would belong to him. She served no other purpose than to be his mate, the one who warmed his berth for him, the one who took care of him, the one who bore his children. Megatron would understand, but he wouldn't let Megatron take her from him, despite his loyalty to the Decepticon leader.

"I won't let you go," he said, breaking the kiss he initiated, "You'll stay with me."

"And what am I supposed to do?"

She loved him, he knew it, he could feel it. He knew there was no greater loyalty than love; he knew that there was no stronger weakness. She would never leave him so long as she loved him. And this desire he felt for her, he dared to say it was the same she felt for him. That four letter word he swore he would never say to someone else and mean, he believed one day he could say it to her.

He didn't want to give her options for now though, he just wanted her to love him because that was what he enjoyed the most. Perhaps he could train her in the ways of the Decepticons, but there was no need to promise her anything tonight. Tonight she was his. Forever she would be his.

"Can you transform?" he asked as his hands roamed the parts of her body his optics roamed earlier.

"No," she answered.

"That won't do," he said as he projected an image of a vehicle, "Chose a vehicle mode and I'll show you how to transform."

After browsing through a few forms, she finally chose a 2010 BMW Z4. Barricade proceeded to show her how to scan the projection before instructing her how to transform properly. Kristen was quick to learn and once she had transforming mastered for the most part, the Decepticon tracker instructed her to follow him. Curious, she transformed and followed Barricade into the night.

Kristen was surprised by how much easier driving was now that she was actually the vehicle. It was comparable to blinking or breathing, something that could be done without thinking, but it was so much faster than walking. As they drove along, she tried to take in the surroundings in order to try and identify where they were or see if she could figure out where they were possibly going, but she had no idea. She read the street signs; all the town names that they passed through were unfamiliar. She figured that was okay though, Barricade wasn't leading her to her doom, or so she hoped.

It was a couple hours later when they finally stopped. Kristen transformed when Barricade did and looked around. They weren't that far outside of a town, but he had brought her to an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the town. She followed Barricade inside, glancing at the broken machinery. From what she could tell, the factory was used to make cars at one point in time, but had to be shut down because of the economic downturn.

"How'd you find this place?" she asked as they stopped walking.

"I'm a tracker, I can find whatever I want," he said with a smirk.

He had found her more than once. From the expression on his dark face she knew that he wanted her too. She watched as he turned his back to her before looking over his shoulder at her and saying, "We'll rest here for tonight."

She wasn't tired, neither was he. She studied the burning look in his optics. They screamed lust, they screamed excitement, they screamed _hunger_… He was hard to see, from where he was standing, though he wasn't that far from her. His back was mostly to her as he stared at her from over his shoulder, watching her study him. His twin red optics pierced through the dark, the moonlight dripped down his black armor. Normally instinct would have told her to run away from this terrible, bloodthirsty, hungry monster, but she couldn't, she _wouldn't_ run. She was completely captivated, devoted, in love with, _trapped_ by him.

Her feet moved, but not away from him. Kristen crossed the short distance until she reached him. Barricade felt as she grasped some of the cables on his back with one hand as she turned to face him. Her other hand slowly went up his torso teasing wires, sensors, his armor plating. Oh, she was asking for it. He caught her by the wrist when her hand reached his shoulder, surprising her.

He kicked her feet out from under her and lifted her by the wrist he had been clinging to. He pinned her against one of the walls, lifting her so that she was nearly optic level with him. He pressed himself against her as his mouth components found hers. The eagerness in his kiss showed how he hungry he was for her, and hunger wasn't a powerful enough word, he was _starving_.

As the Decepticon tracker kissed her, he slid his fingertips down her arm until his hand found hers still holding onto his back. He wove his fingers between hers and removed her hand from his back. He pressed himself closer to her as he wove his fingers between hers on her other hand. The wall couldn't support their weight and they went tumbling through into the next room. When they landed, Kristen was pinned beneath Barricade, their hands still clutching one another's. They looked at each other for a moment, and when they realized what had happened and that neither of them was injured, Barricade leaned back in and resumed the kiss.

After a few moments, Barricade released one of her hands and slowly traced his sharp fingertips down her torso. Kristen felt a sudden heat between her legs flare up as he did that. Using his free hand, he spread her legs a little farther apart. She gasped into his mouth when he suddenly opened a panel between her legs and slipped one of his sharp fingers inside her. He kissed her neck, chuckling against her throat as he felt her squirm beneath him.

"Does it hurt?" he asked smiling, his voice rasp.

"Yes," she replied, wincing, but at the same time it felt good.

Pleased, he removed his finger only to insert it in her mouth and force her to clean it off. Kristen remembered the time that they went to the gas station and he had emphasized how she didn't want to know how dirty he was. Now she was beginning to see. Barricade didn't just have fun with femmes, he thoroughly _enjoyed_ them.

She was still sucking on his finger when he inserted himself into her valve. Kristen moaned involuntarily as he inserted himself to the hilt, she could feel her muscle cables stretch in order to accommodate him.

"Kristen," he breathed as he took his hand away from her mouth and kissed her instead, "You know this is how it will always be."

"Me, pinned beneath you?" she breathed back sarcastically.

"You," he said gruffly, "Always with me."

"Barricade…"

He silenced her as he crushed his mouth components against hers. Slowly he began to thrust himself in and out of her. Gradually he began to increase his pace, breaking the kiss as he did so and burying his face against her neck. Kristen held onto the broken bits of the wall for support as he continued to thrust inside her. She could feel her climax coming and groaned.

"Barricade," she breathed.

He looked at her, his face only a breath away from hers.

"I love you," she said.

He grinned and kissed her lightly. He trailed the kiss down her neck onto her chest. He smiled as he felt Kristen quiver beneath him, knowing that her overload was close. It wasn't long until she convulsed beneath him and he came not long after, burying his essence deep inside of her. When he finished, he slowly pulled out and concealed himself, listening as Kristen closed her panels. Both of their systems were whining loudly, trying to cool them. Barricade, using the energy that he had left, lifted Kristen in his arms and carried her over to another part of the warehouse. He propped her up against the wall before sitting down beside her and sighing heavily. She leaned against him and he placed an arm around her.

"Try to get some rest," he said as he let his optics go offline.

"Thank you, Barricade," she replied quietly, "For everything you've done."

He grunted, causing Kristen to smile. She guessed this was how it was going to be from now on, unless Barricade was to receive other orders. But, she didn't care. This was what she wanted; this was what she had chosen. He was her friend, she loved him, and he was the only one who could help her.

"Think the Autobots offlined Abbie?" she asked.

"We'll probably never know, but I would assume so," he said.

"What happens to me now?"

"You stay with me."

"And?"

He brought his optics back online. "You're my mate, Kristen," he said.

"You mean…"

"You will serve by my side and you won't have to become a Decepticon."

"Is that…is that what you want?"

"I wouldn't have come back for you if that wasn't what I wanted," he said, "I will do my best to show you the ways of the Decepticons, it won't be easy, but if you do as I say, you won't have much to worry about. Now go to sleep."

Kristen let her optics go offline, knowing that this was how it would be for the rest of her life. She was Barricade's, forever, and that was what she wanted. And while she may have lost her freedom to him, she was only just discovering herself.

In the morning, she didn't know where they would go, but for tonight, as it would be for forever, she would enjoy Barricade's company. And in the morning, she would welcome the dawn with a smile on her face.

* * *

The end. I'm not planning a sequel either. Please review!


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